Twisters and Bloodsuckers
by 1000wordsmith
Summary: The Doctor, Amy and Rory accidentally end up in middle America in 1974 on the same day of the Super Tornado Outbreak ... in one of the many towns completely destroyed. But the weather isn't all the time travelers have to worry about. Some Doctor whump included. Early on in the Doctor/Amy/Rory years. But give it time, and a surprising figure may appear.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Doctor Who. Rating is probably a T for teen. This is only the Doctor, Amy and Rory. I love River, but I don't quite have her voice down, and since this is my first attempt at a Doctor Who story I thought I'd start small. A couple of things. 1: I am American, so I apologize about the American tone. 2: I love Doctor Who but don't know a whole lot about back story yet, so if I get something totally wrong let me know. Thanks!  
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**CHAPTER 1**

**Masonville,**** Indiana,**** April****3,**** 1974**

The day had started off well enough, Amy Pond surmised. She and her husband Rory had awoken early — well, they really couldn't be sure, since their current address was the TARDIS — to find the Doctor, all tweeded up, dark, thick brown hair wild, buzzing about the control panel of his beloved time machine.

"Oh, Ponds! Good! I was starting to think I'd have to wake you. You humans. Always needing sooooo much sleep. It gets quite boring, you know, since Time Lords need only a fraction of the sleep you lot require."

Beside her, Rory sighed as he rubbed his still-bleary eyes. "Doctor, what are you going on about now?"

Then, the alien paused and flashed one of his dazzling, slightly-scary smiles at the couple. "It's not what. It's when, Rory. I just had the most wonderful thought." he paused again, this time for effect, and Amy rolled her eyes at his theatrics. "How do you feel about visiting Rytwerneen?"

The Doctor waited again, then grumbled something about "daft humans" when he got no response. "I admit, I haven't been there in ages, but I've heard the diamond mountains are even more breathtaking than I remember —,"

"Diamond mountains?" Amy's attention was piqued now. Diamonds were quite shiny and pretty, in her opinion. "As in, mountains made of diamonds?"

"Ooh, yes, yes," The Doctor said as he fiddled with the lever on the panel. "Though I recommend you take shades with you. The light from the planet's three suns can make looking at them almost unbearable."

Amy squealed. "Mountains made of diamonds!"

••••••••••

"Doctor, where are we?" Amy asked, her big eyes wide and confused. She didn't see any diamond mountains. In fact, she didn't see any mountains. And the one lone sun that blazed high above them was a far cry from three.

The alien grinned brilliantly as he spun to face them, his back to what appeared to be miles and miles of farmland. "It seems my darling TARDIS has chosen to drop us off in the middle of the great U.S. of A., Ponds."

Amy looked at her surroundings more closely. Mostly flat green farmland stared right back. She was suddenly feeling a bit cross. "Why are we here, Doctor? This certainly isn't Rytwerneen. And I don't see any diamond mountains." Her voice took on a higher, whinier edge at the end of that sentence.

"Just, relax, Amelia," he'd used her full name, which means he was a bit annoyed that she hadn't responded with a smile and bright eyes when she'd realized they had never made it to their destination. "Roll with the punches, as they say. Maybe we'll find something adventurous to get into."

Rory snorted beside her. "And by adventurous, you mean incredibly dangerous."

The Doctor shrugged. "Tomato, tomato." Except he pronounced both words the exact same.

"Uh Doctor, I don't think that's how you —" but Rory's correction was cut off by an ominous rumble of thunder. The three turned around to see the dark, scary-looking clouds rolling across the horizon from the west.

"And with mid-America comes the storms," the Doctor said gleefully as he began tromping toward what appeared to be a small community peeking over the horizon to the east. "Come along, Ponds. Don't want to be out here in the open when those clouds let loose, now do you?"

With concerned glances back to the darkening east, the couple followed.

•••••••••

The trio managed to make it to the small farming community just before the skies opened and the rains came. The three took shelter in a general store, and as the Doctor began rattling something off about the stratosphere and thunderclouds and Rory began ambling around the store, Amy looked around for a hint of where — or when — they were at.

A newspaper rack was loaded down with editions of _The__Masonville__Courier_, and the date read April 3, 1974. They were in the 1970s.

"Excuse me sir," Amy asked the burly, older man behind the counter. "Where are we?"

He looked at her strangely before answering. "Masonville, Indiana, ma'am."

Then, he leered, and Amy took a step back. "You're not from around here, are you, miss?" His eyes roved over her leggings, skirt and button-up shirt. She was definitely not dressed for the 70s, that was  
>for sure.<p>

"Oi! Eyes up here, buster." she rolled her eyes before following the Doctor and Rory to the back of the general store.

The Doctor was in the candy aisle, twitching in anticipation as he stared at the rows and rows of candy — many of which Amy and Rory had never heard of before.

"I want a Sugar Daddy," he began. "I haven't had one of those in ages. Of course, they'll rise in popularity about 400 years down the road when you humans will discover that they keep in space for an exorbitant amount of time ... but they're much too expensive in that time. Supply and demand, you know."

Amy and Rory kept quiet, as they'd grown accustomed to the Doctor's ramblings.

The alien grabbed what he'd been searching for and whizzed his way back up front, where the burly cashier was waiting.

The cashier eyed Amy a bit more, making the couple a trite uncomfortable, while the Doctor dug around in his trouser pockets for the required 35 cents. Of course, his pockets were always bigger on  
>the inside, as he'd repeatedly reminded Rory and Amy, and it took several moments before the Doctor placed the change on the table.<p>

Amy made a mental note to ask him later if he carried around money from every single country of every single planet in the universe for occasions such as these.

"Thank you, my good man," the Doctor grinned before ripping the yellow and red food wrapping and attacking the caramelized candy ferociously. Another rumble of thunder accompanied the droning of the rain on the roof of the store, and the trio turned to watch the weather.

Then, the Doctor sighed. "Oh dear."

"What is it, Doctor?" Amy asked, her heart sinking. This meant something bad was going to happen.

The Doctor looked at the newspaper and slapped a palm to his forehead. He may have looked quite silly, since the sugary candy was sticking out of his mouth in a most unclassy way.

"Doctor, what?" Rory tried this time.

"Radio, radio, radio ... " the Doctor turned abruptly and moved back to the counter, taking the cashier by surprise. "Do you have a radio?"

The man nodded. "Why?"

"Ah, um ...," he grinned weakly. "How long is your shift?"

The man looked at his watch. "I'm here for another five hours. Why?"

The Doctor looked at the wall clock, which read nearly 11 a.m. "Do you have a storm shelter or a basement here?"

The man, puzzled, shook his head.

"Well, I recommend you seek shelter somewhere safe at, say, around 3 p.m. today," the alien answered before reaching across the counter and turning the dial up.

"Bennie and the Jets" by Elton John was playing.

The cashier hummed appreciatively to the music. "Good song, this. That Elton, he's one of the good ones, you know?"

"Oh yes, I do," the Doctor replied, but distractedly. He didn't feel like explaining to the man that Elton John — the REAL Elton John — had been teleported to the year 4,789 for a concert on New Earth and had decided to never return.

Of course, the replacement Elton was quite good as well.

After the song ended, a run-of-the-mill radio announcer took over, calling for volatile weather with a possibility of severe storms in the outlook.

"Oh dear," the Doctor mumbled again, the Sugar Daddy now dangling from his hand, forgotten. "This is bad. This is very not good."

"Doctor, what is it?" Amy asked again, her voice louder, trying to break through the alien's thoughts, which would often threaten to consume him completely.

The storm lessened, and as the wind faded and the rain slowed to a sprinkle, the Doctor ushered his friends outside and away from prying ears.

"Ah, how are you on recent U.S. of A. history, Ponds?" he asked, glancing at the sky nervously.

Amy, fed up, folded her arms across her chest. "Not very good, Doctor. Now, tell us what is going on or so help me I'll box your ears."

He instinctively brought his hands up to the sides of his head, then sighed. "We're in one of many towns set to be destroyed in the Super Tornado Outbreak of 1974. Lives lost, homes and businesses destroyed, hundreds critically injured ... nothing will ever be the same."

Rory snapped his fingers. "Wait a minute, I remember learning something about that in school. Something like 200 tornadoes in two days." Then, he gulped. "Must we stick around, Doctor? The thought of massive, scary twisters bearing down on us doesn't exactly get me itching to jump into things."

The Doctor licked his fingers and held his hand high, testing the wind direction. Then, with a quick snap, his sonic screwdriver was out and pointed toward the horizon to the southeast. "Sorry to tell you this, Ponds, but the TARDIS brought us here for a reason. Something foul is afoot in Masonville ... it's just bad luck that it happens to coincide with history-making weather."

Then, he paused. "Or is it?"

"Yes, it is, Doctor," Rory answered as they followed the alien toward the center of town. "It's very bad luck."

"Possibly." Came the answer from ahead of the couple. "Or maybe it's all connected to the tornadoes."

The Doctor nodded, then turned to face his friends. "Right then. Shall we?"

Amy and Rory just gaped at the alien. "We ... do we have to?" Amy asked meekly. "I'm not, I'm not the biggest fan of bad weather."

The Doctor squinted at her. "Amelia Pond. You're afraid of storms?"

"Not afraid," she answered quickly. "Just a bit nervous."

"Well, there was that time in Leadworth –," Rory began, before he stopped at the glare his wife sent him.

"NOT afraid," she said again, her voice low and dangerous.

"Uh huh," the Doctor answered, unconvinced. "Well, what better way to face your fear than experience one of the worst weather events in recorded American history?"

"Now, where did my TARDIS get to?"

••••••••••

An hour later, the trio discovered the TARDIS had established itself right on the outskirts of Masonville, near the Ohio River and away from the populace.

The sky had begun to darken toward the southeast once again, but the Doctor remained cheery as he began sonicing the surrounding field and sparse trees.

Bored, Amy and Rory leaned up against the time machine as the Doctor made a path through the high grasses toward the cluster of forest directly bordering the river, mumbling something about wonky environmental output coming from the river.

Rory put a comforting arm around his wife, and silently, she accepted the gesture. The two stayed like that for a few silent moments before sharing a quick, chaste kiss.

"I'll kill you for bringing that up, stupid face," she said after they separated.

Rory sighed. "I know."

And then, the earth fell out beneath them.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2  
>Amy came to with a cough, and she tried to clear the dirt from her eyes as she pushed herself upright.<p>

Groaning, she took stock of her aching body and decided that nothing had been broken in the fall. That  
>didn't mean she didn't hurt, though. She looked upward to see an overcast sky peeking in through a hole at least 10 feet across and at least five feet above her head at standing height. Dust and chunks of dirt and grass from above was still falling, and she was glad she hadn't been out long.<p>

"Rory?" she called, her heart seizing when she didn't hear an answer right away. "Where are you?"

A groan from several feet away alerted her to his location, and Amy made her way to Rory gingerly, picking her way through the dirt in light that was so poor she had trouble seeing anything before her. "Are you alright?"

He gasped as he sat up on his elbows, and she knelt down to inspect him for any injuries. "I think I broke my bum." Then, he looked above them at the hole. "What happened?"

Amy shrugged. "We fell through." Her answer was simply and to the point, he had to give her that.

He fixed her with a stare. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"Anytime," she answered distractedly as she stood up and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Doctor!"

There was no answer from above. "Great," she sighed, then called out again. "Doctor! We're stuck! We need help!"

Nothing sounded from overhead. But something moved in the darkness underneath.

"Uh ...," Rory scrambled to his feet. "What was that?"

Amy held her breath, listening for the thuds that had sounded like heavy footsteps. "I don't know."

Something appeared to materialize in the inky blackness, and the two instinctively moved closer to each other.

"Who are you?" Amy asked. "Show yourself."

A young boy stepped out of the shadows. "Hi," he said, his middle-American accent obvious. "Are you okay?"

Confused, the couple regarded him curiously. "What are you doing down here?" Rory asked. "Is this a cave?"

The little boy, who looked no older than 9, shrugged. "You could call it that."

"Um, are you alone?" Amy asked, suddenly aware that the child couldn't have been the source of the heavy footsteps she'd heard only seconds before.

The boy shook his head, his blond hair shining despite the darkness. "No, silly. My family's here too."

"Who are you?" she asked.

The little boy took another step forward. "Jeffrey. What's your name, human?"

The boy's question sent a chill down Amy's spine, and she looked at Rory, who appeared equally as fearful. But before they could move, they heard heavy shuffling in the shadows.

"Oh, you want to meet my family?"

Amy's breath hitched in her throat, and she was suddenly struck by a paralyzing fear. Something was very, very wrong here. Then, something struck her in the back of the head, and blackness consumed her.

••••••••••

The Doctor let loose a gleeful chuckle as he followed his sonic toward the river and away from the TARDIS and Amy and Rory. "Something's here," he said, his curiosity piqued. "Something ... not of this world."

He paused then, studying the sonic closely. The readings were puzzling. The air surrounding the town of Masonville, Indiana was certainly electrified, giving hints of the destructive weather that was to hit within hours. But something else was in the air. Something old. Something alien. Besides him, of course. And it was something very familiar …

"Hmmm ...," he muttered as he began walking in a small circle. "What is going on here?"

The air held the essence of human blood — lots of it. But there were no signs of a massacre. Nothing on the grounds, in the grass ... and after a quick check, even in the river. Something was spilling human blood — and yet it was being very good at covering its trail.

Suddenly very nervous for his two human friends, the Doctor spun back toward the way he'd come and sprinted toward the TARDIS. "Amy! Rory!" he yelled. When no answer floated back to him, the Doctor's two hearts each skipped a beat.

When he approached the TARDIS — which had hidden itself in an invisible shield — he caught sight of the gaping hole that had opened up. Below was just darkness. Peeking over the ledge, the Doctor called for his friends again. His own voice echoed back to him, hinting at a tunnel of sorts that led away from the cavern.

"I told them not to wander off, now didn't I?" he asked himself as he lowered himself into the hole and dropped the rest of the way, landing with a thud on the floor of the cavern. "Why must they always get  
>themselves into trouble?"<p>

The Doctor turned his sonic on, and its green glow bathed the cavern in its soft light. The darkest parts of the cavern remained in shadows, but the Doctor could make out where his two companions had fallen. Amy and Rory's footprints could still be seen in the dirt. But other footprints — at least three pairs, including a small child's — surrounded theirs, and the Doctor began to get a sinking feeling in  
>the pit of his stomach.<p>

Deciding that discretion would be wise, he refrained from calling for the couple. Instead, he took to following the footprints — now sans Amy and Rory, so he figured they'd been carried — out of the cavern and into the tunnel that opened into it.

If he weren't a Time Lord, the Doctor reckoned he'd be a bit terrified at the moment. Instead, he was positively twitchy with anticipation. Of course, he was concerned for his friends, but the mad part of the Doctor's mind couldn't help but be alight with curiosity at the circumstances surrounding him. Shuffling slowly, quietly, the Doctor made his way through the dark tunnel, becoming quickly bored as he came across nothing but dirt floor and rock wall. So far, he'd come across nothing, yet he could detect the faintest smell of human blood. He couldn't be sure if it were Amy's or Rory's but it was human, nonetheless. Which meant whatever he was dealing with down here was responsible for the sonic's readings above ground.

A sudden movement behind the Doctor alerted him, and he swung the sonic around, coming face to face with a small child with golden hair.

"Hullo there," he said, already suspecting the boy was not human.

"Hi," the child answered, grinning impishly.

"And who might you be?" the Doctor asked, bending down to get a better look at the child.

"Jeffrey," the boy answered. "I'm 8."

"Are you?" the Doctor asked. "Well, you may appear to be 8, but I think you're quite a bit older."

The child frowned, then bared his teeth. His sharper than normal teeth. "Get out."

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm afraid you have my friends, Jeffrey. I can't leave."

The boy hissed.

The Doctor sighed. "I'm going to find my friends now. You can either lead me to them, or stay out of my way."

The boy shrieked before launching himself at the Doctor, hands formed into small claws. His strength was far greater than a young child would appear to have, further lending evidence to his otherworldly  
>status. The Doctor was slammed against the rock wall of the tunnel, and he grunted as he fought to keep the child's teeth away from his throat as the creature leapt upward, snapping his teeth ferociously.<p>

"No, Jeffrey," he gritted as the thing growled and snarled at him. "This is not the way to behave. I've simply come for my friends."

"They'll soon be dead," he answered as he snapped at the Doctor again, this time drawing blood when his teeth found the Doctor's forearm which had come up to protect his throat. The Doctor couldn't help but huff indignantly when he heard the tweed material of his beloved coat rip as Jeffrey lunged again.

The Doctor grunted again and, in a sudden burst of strength, pushed the creature away from him with a mighty shove. The child reeled back and collided with the rock wall directly across from them. The child's head hit the rock with a sickly thud, and Jeffrey fell, unconscious.

"You tore my jacket," the Doctor said, as he looked at the creature's unconscious form, a mixture of pity and anger in his eyes.

The Doctor took that moment to rush down the tunnel, his sonic held in front of him at the ready.  
>When he began to see a source of light in front of him, the Doctor picked up his speed, concerned that more Jeffreys may be hiding in the shadows. Then, he had a sudden flashback to Angel Bob, and sincerely hoped the Jeffrey he'd encountered hadn't been a human boy before. That would be quite unfortunate.<p>

Bloodsucking Jeffrey. That would have to be his name. Bloodsucking … something began to click in the Doctor's head, but the thought fled when he found himself face-to-face with two more creatures that resembled humans but certainly weren't.

"Hullo," he said, using the same approach he'd tried with Jeffrey, despite his suspicions that these two creatures wouldn't give him an easier time than the younger one had. "I'm looking for my friends, the Ponds. Have you seen them?"

The first one, a large male who looked to be around 40 in human years, grinned — although it didn't instill anything but nervousness in the Doctor — and regarded him with dark eyes. "You're not human."

"Ah, no. Not currently," the Doctor replied. "But that would be the pot calling the kettle black, now wouldn't you agree?"

The second creature looked like a human female, with mousy brown hair and large, penetrating eyes. "Your friends are here, but they're not long for this world."

"Is that so?"

She nodded, then licked her lips sensually. "The redheaded one. She tastes so ... sweet."

The Doctor's ire was raised a notch, and he felt the familiar fury begin to take hold. "I believe it's quite rude to eat humans, and I can't abide it. Especially if they're my friends."

The female creature laughed as she threw her head back. "You're so odd. But I smell the essence of time travel on you."

"Well yes. Hard to wash out, that," the Doctor answered, running short of patience. "Where are they?"

Before the Doctor would take action, the male creature was upon him, and his teeth sank into his neck with a wet, sickening sound. The Doctor couldn't help the scream that escaped as pain overcame him and as he tried to fight the thing off. The creature only latched on more firmly, drawing in the Doctor's blood deeply.

"Oh, this won't do," the Doctor gasped as he felt himself growing weaker by the second.

The creature let go of his captive with a shriek. "He's a Time Lord, Miriam!"

"Oooooh," the one named Miriam purred, and her voice, to the Doctor, sounded like it was echoing down a long hallway. His vision darkened as he fought to remain upright. He sagged in the male creature's grip, and it tightened its hold on him."We must keep him around then."

Then, the Doctor lost all feeling in his legs, and the male creature released him. He was out before he hit the dirt floor.

••••••••••

"Doctor? Doctor, wake up," the voice was familiar, and the Doctor struggled to regain consciousness. His head was swimming, and he fought to open his suddenly very heavy eyelids.

After a few seconds of internal struggle, he finally wrenched them open, he saw a blurry Rory, looking much the worse for wear above him. "Fancy seeing you here," he croaked, and the young man slumped with relief.

"Thank God, Doctor," he said. "They nearly killed you."

"Yes, well," the Doctor said as he reached up and felt the ragged wound on his neck. A piece of cloth had been placed there, and the Doctor noticed Rory had torn a piece of his shirt from the bottom hem  
>to use as a bandage. "Two hearts and all that. Replenishes blood quickly. Though it will leave a mark, it seems."<p>

Then, he rose into a sitting position, still feeling weak. "Where's Amy?"

Rory shook his head. "Don't know. I came to in here. But Amy's gone."

The young man seemed to fall apart a bit then, and he dropped his head into his hands. "Doctor, if they do anything to Amy —,"

"They won't," he answered shortly as he rose, stumbling as he tried to regain his footing on weak legs. "Did you hear anything they may have said that may tell us why they're here?"

Rory thought a moment. "Something about the tornadoes. And going above ground. Nothing much past that, I'm afraid."

The Doctor nodded as he tried to rub some of the crusted blood from his neck. "They're humanoid, that's for sure. But what are they doing in the middle of America?"

The young nurse shrugged, then smiled weakly. "Waiting to take over the town once the tornadoes come through?"

The Doctor rubbed his eyes, then regarded his companion seriously. Then, he let loose a wide, mad smile, and Rory, miffed, thought about asking him what he found so damn funny at the moment.

"I knew there was a reason I took you with me, Rory. That's brilliant! Makes complete sense, and I'm quite ashamed I hadn't thought of that."

"I've had a bit of time to think," Rory answered before staring at the crude iron door that separated them from freedom. "What are we going to do?"

"First, I'm going to sonic this door," the Doctor said as he grabbed his trusty tool and made his way to the doorway. "Then we're going to find Amy."


	3. Chapter 3

A reminder: I don't own Doctor Who.

CHAPTER 3  
>Amy was in pain. Lots of it. It had been the first thing she felt when she began to rise from the depths of unconsciousness, and as she began to come round a bit more, the pain intensified. She made a small sound in the back of her throat as she fought to raise her hand to the source of the agony — her neck.<p>

But of course, her hands seemed to be tied down. Amy huffed in frustration, and, with a mighty sigh, she managed to crack her eyes open just enough to see that she was in some kind of underground chamber. The pain in her neck sharpened even more, and she gasped as she tried to turn her neck to look around her.

It seemed whatever those things were had helped themselves to a bit of Scottish redhead.

"Wait until I get hold of them," she muttered as she lowered her head to regard the thick ropes that were wound tightly around her arms, securing her to a heavy chair.

"Rory?" she called. When there was no answer, and Amy realized she was alone, she began to struggle against her constraints desperately, her worry for Rory's safety threatening to consume her.

The ropes rubbed her pale skin raw, and she began to grunt as she tried to wriggle her way free. The ropes simply bit into her arms even more, drawing blood, and Amy hesitated, wondering just how much blood she'd have to spare.

"Oi!" she called, suddenly cross. "Whatever you are, you'll regret this. My friends will find me. And then you'll pay."

A low chuckle echoed from the deep shadows, and Amy froze.

"So feisty," the male creature shuffled forward. He appeared human, though his slightly sharpened incisors and blood lust in his eyes gave him away. "Would you be so fiery, little girl, if you knew where your friends were?"

She sneered. "Wherever they are, they'll escape, and come for me. And for you."

The thing laughed again as he came closer, and Amy couldn't help but press herself against the back of the chair as the creature came near enough to reach out and touch her. It extended a pale hand and caressed her tresses gently, almost grooming her. Ignoring the pain radiating from the wound on her neck, Amy moved her head as far away from the thing's reach as she could.

"Oi, that's not yours!" she retorted, shooting daggers at it through her gaze. "If my husband knew what you were up to ...,"

"Oh shut up," the thing answered, before backhanding her across the face. The impact sent Amy reeling, and her head rocketed back, away from the creature's hand. The burning sensation blossomed on her cheek, and Amy wondered if her cheekbone had been cracked by the force of the creature's hit.

She was stunned into silence for a few seconds, and she took the opportunity to check and make sure all her teeth were in place before licking her bottom lip where a cut had opened up.

She chose not to scream bloody murder, but if looks could kill, the creature would've been dust.

"Are you a vampire then?" she asked, quietly, trying not to let her voice betray her anger and fear.

The thing tilted its head as he watched her, considering whether to answer. "Your species knows us as that, yes."

It took a step back. "But we're not those insufferable creatures that sleep in coffins and can't walk into sunlight. You humans are so stupid when it comes to things they don't understand. They make up  
>things — ways to defeat the scary monsters."<p>

"But you can't defeat us," it continued. "We're ancient, and we're patient. Our time to assimilate amongst humans is near. Within two hours, we will be above ground, and we'll be able to live as you  
>do."<p>

"Oh, I don't know," she cut in. "I think the underground caves are rather charming. It works for bin Laden." Then, she realized the creature probably had no idea to whom she was referring.

The creature snorted and brushed a lock of greasy dark hair away from its pale face. "We deserve to live as you do."

"Except for the part where you feed on humans." Amy retorted. The thing looked like it wanted to hit her again, and Amy instinctively shrunk back a bit.

But it simply continued talking. "You're not worth my time, human. Soon, you'll be gone, as will your friends. You can't stop us. No one on this planet can stop us."

"You're correct on that count," chortled a voice from the shadows.

Amy's heart soared. The Doctor appeared, drawing himself high to match the height of the thing, and took a few steps forward. Amy gasped when she took in his bloody clothes and wounds. And although he was doing a magnificent job of appearing very "Oncoming Storm"-ish, she could tell he was weakened.

Behind the Doctor stood Rory, who appeared uninjured, and she locked eyes with her husband. His eyes were wide and frightened, exhibiting his worry for his wife.

"But I'm not from this planet, and neither are you, plasmavore."

The thing hissed. "So you know what we are. Very good, Time Lord."

"Yes, though I was a bit slow on the uptake, I'm afraid," the Doctor pushed his thick, dark hair out of his eyes. "You nearly killed me the last time I ran into one of you. It took some excellent CPR from one  
>of my companions to bring me round."<p>

The thing's eyes widened in surprise. "You have come against one of us and lived to tell the tale?"

The Doctor nodded. "In another lifetime. Although by that point your species had already been hunted by the Judoon to near extinction on earth. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't tracking you right now."

The creature laughed. "That's why we feed off of humans. Their DNA — ,"

"Yes, yes, I know, allows you to avoid detection, and all that," Then, the Doctor's green eyes darkened, and he grinned coldly. "But you didn't have just human blood, did you? You had to be greedy, plasmavore, and have some Time Lord."

The creature waited, puzzled. Apparently, he was quite daft. Amy watched the proceedings curiously, but was distracted by a slight breeze from behind that ruffled her hair. There were more tunnels  
>leading into the room. And there were at least two other creatures lurking about somewhere.<p>

"Uh, Doctor —,"

"Not now, Amy," he answered, not taking his eyes off the male plasmavore. "I'm showing how incredibly witty I am."

Rory dashed around the male creature and was beside his wife. He gritted his teeth as he worked to pull the ropes loose.

"There are more," she said. "Where are they?"

"They're above ground, waiting." The creature said, proudly. "Waiting to take their places among the humans. And as chaos rules, they'll be able to take all they need from the townspeople to build their strength up. We'll breed, and our numbers will grow. This town will be ours. And I shall join my family today, as soon as I've drained you."

"Oh, with the draining nonsense again," the Doctor moaned. "Always with the blood and the sucking and the draining. You lot are quite linear."

The creature, fed up, growled and lunged at the Doctor, intending to kill him for good this time. Amy and Rory both yelled out as they watched the two aliens collide and go tumbling to the dirt floor of  
>the cave.<p>

"Doctor! Rory, get me out of this," Amy said, craning her neck to see the Doctor desperately working to keep the plasmavore's teeth away from his throat.

He made a choking noise in the back of his throat, raising his voice to be heard above the sounds of the struggle. "I'm trying!"

After scarce seconds that seemed to last an eternity, Rory finagled the ropes until they were loose, and she was free. Amy sprang to her feet, then swayed dangerously.

"You twits," she couldn't help but say. "How much blood did you take from me?"

But the creature wasn't listening. It was too busy going for the Doctor's already wounded neck. It was taller and heavier than the Doctor, who could best be described as lanky, and so it had already gained the upper hand and was hovering over the Doctor, its weight pressing him into the ground.

"Ah, Rory, some assistance please!" he yelped, as he tried valiantly to keep the thing at arm's distance.

The creature was so enthralled by the idea of having more Time Lord blood that it didn't even notice Rory pick up the chair Amy had been in. It collided with the creature's head with a crash, and the bloodsucker slumped, unconscious.

Underneath the body, the Doctor gasped for air, not liking how very close he'd been to being chomped on again.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Amy asked as she knelt beside her friend.

He simply nodded as Rory dragged the creature off of him. "What are we going to do with him?" the nurse asked as the Doctor shakily sat up.

"Nothing. It's out of our hands," the Doctor said as he retrieved his sonic screwdriver and waved it about in front of Amy. She simply waited patiently as he snapped it open and studied its diagnosis.

"Plasmavores," he mumbled. "Always take take take with them. They got away with nearly a liter, Pond. I've no doubt they would've killed you if we hadn't come to your rescue."

She crossed her arms as she sat back. "Me? What about you? Seems they got hold of you as well."

The Doctor dismissed her accusation with a shrug as he clicked the sonic onto a different setting and let the tool's green glow bathe the ragged wound in Amy's neck.

"There," he said. "That should speed up the healing process, congeal the blood and all that — although the TARDIS' medical bay would be ideal."

Then, he turned it on himself and waited as the wounds on his own body began to seal a bit and pinken.

"Doctor, what do you mean it's out of our hands?" Rory asked.

"Just that," he answered as he rose. "The Judoon know there is only one Time Lord in the universe. When they detected Time Lord DNA in a being other than me they set their course for Earth. We've only a short time before they arrive, I'm sure."

"And the other two?" Amy asked as she clutched onto Rory while the three made their way back to where they'd come in.

"I suppose we'll have to find them shortly and signal the Judoon before those creatures eradicate what's left of this town," the Doctor answered matter-of-factly.

The trio traveled back to the hole in silence, mostly because all three were exhausted — the Doctor and Amy because they'd lost a good amount of blood. When they arrived at the gaping hole in the ground,  
>Rory cleared his throat nervously. The sky that peeked through the hole was quite possibly the darkest the nurse had ever seen. "Doctor, what time is it?"<p>

"Hmmm," another click of the sonic. "It appears to be 3 p.m. Central Time."

Almost in response, the sky rumbled.

"Oh dear," the Doctor mumbled. "This is very not good. Not good at all, I'm afraid." He clicked the sonic again, and the TARDIS began to materialize in the cavern with them. "Let's be off, shall we?"


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4  
>After the three time travelers boarded the time machine and exited it within minutes in the heart of Masonville, the Doctor sent the TARDIS away and safely out of range of the approaching storm. The friends regarded the middle of Masonville silently for a few moments, taking in the empty streets and stores. Many town residents had hurried home upon receiving word that the same storm system that had left death and chaos in its wake was aiming right for them.<p>

"We need to find Jeffrey and his dear mum," the Doctor said. He pointed out that although it appeared the people had heeded radio warnings of the storm, the majority of them still wouldn't understand the sheer magnitude of the weather system until it was too late. Accurate weather radar didn't yet exist.

"This will change all that though," he said as the sky let loose another thunderclap, and Amy shivered as the rumbling echoed around them.

The three took shelter in the same general store they'd found themselves in upon their arrival in Masonville. The same cashier sat next to the radio, seemingly lost in what the announcer was saying.

"Authorities in the Kentuckiana region are encouraging residents to stay indoors and seek shelter in the lower levels of their homes and businesses," the announcer spoke grimly. "The storm system is moving northeast and reports have come in of damaging winds, lightning, hail, and possibly a twister, although ground reports cannot be confirmed."

"You're back," the cashier said upon noticing them. "Weather's getting mighty frightening out there, eh?"

The Doctor all but ignored him as he turned to his companions. "We need to figure out where little Jeffrey and the adult plasmavore went to," he told them, flipping his sonic screwdriver out expertly and  
>scanning the surrounding atmosphere.<p>

"Come along, Ponds," he said as he opened the door to the store, despite the weak protests of the cashier, and sprinted toward the west end of Masonville, following the sonic's readings. Amy and Rory followed diligently, though they watched the sky with wary eyes as they did so.

The rain, a steady, soaking downpour, had started by the time the trio found themselves standing in front of an abandoned store in the downtown district of Masonville. Amy drew her arms around herself and shivered again. Beside her, Rory, sniffled as a rather large drop of moisture rolled off his nose. The Doctor's hair was plastered to his forehead, and he struggled to keep the mop of hair out of his eyes as he read the sonic.

The store's front windows showed only dark emptiness inside and the sign that hung over the door suggested the business had been an old five-and-dime store in its heyday.

"Doctor, we have to get inside," Amy said, forced to raise her voice as the wind picked up suddenly and the rain continued to pour in sheets.

"Yes, yes, yes," he answered as he pointed the sonic at the building's door, which had been locked with a padlock. A quick whirring sound, and the group were allowed entrance. The Doctor and Rory fought to close the door behind them against the wind after they were in the building. The old business had nothing but a layer of dust and a few tables inside, and Amy listened to the storm's wind beat strongly against the front of the abandoned store. The rain changed direction, and she could hear the drops hit the building as they were blown sideways.

Amy was scared, and she was soaked to the bone. She didn't know what the next few minutes would hold for them, so she did the only thing she knew to do. She reached for Rory and then she looked to the Doctor.

••••••••••

The Doctor was most certainly in a bind. Not only was there a storm raging outside, but he and his companions were sure to come face-to-face with two plasmavores set to take over an entire town. And all this was supposed to go down before the Judoons — quite possibly some of the most ruthless beings in the universe to tromp around in interplanetary cop costumes — were to arrive on the scene to  
>corral the creatures off the planet.<p>

"Oh dear," he muttered as a particularly violent gust of wind caused the building to shake, not missing at all the whimper of fear that squeaked from Amy as her green eyes searched him for any signs of a plan.

He didn't want to tell her that he didn't really have one besides not being killed by a blood-sucking alien or a massive tornado.

"What are you doing here?" the female plasmavore — Miriam — materialized from the darkness in the back of the store, with Jeffrey beside her. "And where is Matthew?"

"Matthew, eh?" the Doctor asked, and he couldn't help but smile. "That and Jeffrey are both far removed from your original names. As is Miriam."

The female hissed and took a defensive stance. "We'll have no need for those names after tonight."

The Doctor took a gander at Amy and Rory, both of whom couldn't decide  
>whether to watch the plasmavores or the violent rainstorm that pummeled the town of Masonville. The sky had become an angry purple, and hailstones began hammering the front of the store. Poor Amy's eyes were as wide as saucers, and the Doctor decided he'd have found the sight somewhat funny if they were under different circumstance.<p>

With a shriek, the child lunged for Rory and Amy, and the nurse quickly stepped in front of his wife, teeth gritted as he met the child. The two went down in a tangle of limbs.

"Rory!" Amy yelped, just as the wind became a whistling maelstrom outside the building.

The Doctor couldn't move to help his friends, as Miriam was upon him, sharp teeth clacking madly. Still not quite recovered from his run-in with Matthew, the Doctor was pushed backward by the creature's momentum and he hit the wall of the store with a thud. He winced as the concrete bit into his backside.

The creature's eyes were wide and crazed — with bloodlust and fury both. The Doctor yelped as she pushed into him, snapping at his wounded neck.

Amy screamed as the building began to sway. "Doctor!"

Both the Doctor and the female creature paused in their struggle, and he took the lull in the attack to snap out his sonic screwdriver to read the atmosphere. The barometric pressure had most certainly dropped, and the alien was acutely aware of the strange whooshing noise coming ever closer.

"Everyone get down!" he screamed, just as the windows imploded and glass rained everywhere. The Doctor, forgetting the creatures, stumbled toward his companions. The sound was monstrous, and his ears smarted from the noise of the wind tunnel that was making its way through downtown.

The Doctor shoved Amy and Rory as far down as he could, nearly toppling over from the force of the wind on top of the two, not at all missing Amy's screams and Rory's desperate yells to his wife that everything would be fine.

Although he couldn't see it, the Doctor could hear the tables in the store and other debris being smashed against the walls, which were no doubt in danger of being ripped apart.

Through the grime and the dirt, the Doctor could see the two plasmavores struggling to flee through the back of the store. "No!"

He struggled into a standing position, and squinted through the dust and debris to watch the two creatures stumble away from him. He began to follow, but Amy's hand clutched at his own desperately.

"No, Doctor! Don't go out there!" Her eyes were wide and pleading, and her hand was wound so tightly into his that her already pale knuckles were nearly see-through. He could just make out the various shallow cuts that marred her pretty face, a result of the glass that had been blown inward.

She screamed again as the wind became even louder, and the Doctor suddenly realized he couldn't hear anything besides the vortex. It was all-encompassing, and he found himself hoping for it to end shortly.

Of course, as history would reveal, it wouldn't.

Swallowing his fear, the Doctor put Amy's hand into Rory's. "I'll be fine! Stay here!" He hoped the tornado had already done its worse to the building.

He wasn't even sure if they heard him, but Rory nodded trustingly. With that, the Doctor turned in pursuit of the plasmavores and rushed toward the back of the building and outdoors. What he saw would turn a steeled man's legs to jelly. The back of the store bordered the cross section of two downtown streets, and the tornado — which the Doctor knew would be deemed an F-5 — churned its way across downtown, destroying everything in its wake. The tornado was so strong that debris was whistling through the air a good half-mile from the actual vortex, and the Doctor threw himself to the  
>ground just in time before a piece of sheet metal whizzed above him.<p>

"Blimey," he breathed as he regained his footing and pushed against the wind. He could just make out, through the wind and rain, Jeffrey's golden hair as he and Miriam hightailed it toward the vortex, no doubt hoping to feed on the dead and barely alive who would be left behind by the vortex. The Doctor gave chase, stumbling and nearly falling when an object crashed into his back.

Every cell in the Doctor's body hummed with apprehension as he ran toward the storm, and he found himself thinking that a nice vacation to possibly the most boring planet in the universe would be in line should he, Rory and Amy live through this.

The winds nearly knocked him off his feet, but he continued onward, head down and hands in front of his face to protect himself from any projectiles. The Doctor tried not to look at the vehicles that had been flipped and twisted by the force of the winds. He hoped no one had been in them when the  
>tornado hit.<p>

The Doctor watched the two plasmavores turn and head northeast, no doubt in hopes of reaching some parts of town before the slow-moving twister reached those areas. Sighing, the Doctor followed, concentrating on staying upright in the driving rain and violent winds.

He finally caught up to them, after what seemed an eternity, as they entered a gasoline station on the outskirts of Masonville. They'd effectively cut through and positioned themselves back into the path  
>of the storm, lying in wait for the victims. The Doctor worried that he wouldn't be able to avoid a direct hit from the twister a second time. That would just be too lucky.<p>

The Doctor heard the vortex behind him, but he forced himself to concentrate on wrenching the door to the store open, and he almost fell on all fours when the door finally allowed him entrance. The Doctor looked up, and his hearts leapt when he caught sight of the terrified group of people who huddled at the far end of the store.

And then the twister was there, and the Doctor was thrown across the store. He thought he heard people screaming, and he wondered if he was as well. _Never been thrown about like a ragdoll by a twister before_, he thought idly as he sailed through the air. He crashed into what looked like an aisle of potato crisps, and he fought to stay conscious as his head bounced rather unceremoniously against the floor.

The group of people had scattered in their attempts to dive to the floor, and the Doctor tried to push himself up, looking for the two plasmavores. It was nearly impossible to make anything out, as he was having trouble focusing on anything. Concussions could do that to one, it seemed. The Doctor fought the  
>force of the wind as the building quite literally began to shake apart, and he only had time to shout at Jeffrey, who'd appeared before him with a smirk, before the pressure suddenly dropped and the roof<br>was ripped apart.

The Doctor felt himself being sucked upward and out of the store, and something hit the side of his head with such force that it sent him spinning through the air.

And then, blackness.


	5. Chapter 5

*** I do not own Doctor Who. I wish, though. Oh, how I wish. ***

**CHAPTER 5**  
>Amy was not one to collapse into hysterics when things got a bit tough. She tended to rush headlong into things screaming like a banshee – which she considered a strategy to throw off her enemies. As the vortex moved away and all that remained were her own screams, which bounced off the walls of the ravaged store she and Rory were in, Amy realized she sounded pretty darn close to hysterical. She abruptly closed her mouth, embarrassed. Rory didn't seem to care, though. In fact, his own yells died in his throat as the winds of the twister faded away, leaving an eerie, shocked silence in its wake.<p>

The couple carefully picked their way through the debris in the building, clutching each other tightly. The door managed to open just enough for them to squeeze through, and Amy blinked and shielded her eyes from the sun that had begun peeking through the clouds of what remained of the storm.

She held Rory's hand tightly, and ignored the tears of terror that were now drying on her cheeks. Amy had faced down some of the worst creatures in the entire universe, and she realized, with a choked sob, that she never wanted to face down a tornado again. Embarrassed at her outburst, she buried her head in Rory's chest, fisting his shirt in her hand as she fought to keep the tears down. This wouldn't do. They had to find the Doctor, for God's sake!

"I'm so stupid," she whispered as she looked up at her husband. Only he wasn't looking back at her. His mouth was agape, and his eyes wide. He was surveying what remained of Masonville. Amy almost didn't want to look.

But she did. She turned, still not letting go of Rory, and took in the smashed cars, and piles of rubble. Many of the buildings around them had remained standing, but windows were blown inward, roofs were caved in, and walls were unstable. It looked like a bomb had gone off.

As Amy watched, the townspeople began to trickle out from the buildings, complete shock on their faces as they took in the loss of their way of life.

Medic sirens began to wail in earnest, but they weren't coming their way. They were headed northeast, to the hardest-hit part of the town. Where the Doctor had gone.

"We have to find him," she said to Rory, though she couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight before them. She couldn't stop gazing at the damaged buildings, at the bricks and chunks of concrete that had either fallen or gotten blown into the streets.

As they began to move forward, toward the part of town where the Doctor had followed the plasmavores, all Amy could do was whisper "Oh my God," repeatedly. She couldn't find any other words for what they were seeing.

Rory studied everyone around them as they walked, ensuring that no one had been seriously injured.

"Amy, we'll find him," he soothed. "We will. He's the Doctor."

She couldn't help but feel a stab of uncertainty about the Doctor's fate in this case. Not even a Time Lord would be able to go up against a monster twister such as the one they experienced and live.  
>A shroud of silence had encompassed the town, and all Amy could hear, besides the wail of the sirens, were the sobs and the sounds of people sifting through what remained of their businesses. Downtown<br>Masonville, at least the area they were in, seemed to be devoid of residences. That was probably a good thing.

"Amy, you're shaking," Rory said as they maneuvered around part of a wall that had been separated from a clothing boutique.

"I am not." She answered quickly, defensively, even as she tried to cover up her trembling hands by stuffing them into her jacket pockets. "I'll be fine. We just have to fine the Doctor."

The closer they moved to the center of the twister's path, the worse it got. Smashed bricks and walls gave way to splintered buildings, and Amy and Rory found they couldn't even recognize what stood there before the storm. Residents were crying as they tried to dig through the debris, searching for any missing loved ones. One woman, overwhelmed by the sight of her destroyed home, wept as she sat among the debris.

"Help me! My baby boy! Someone please!"

Amy's heart felt like it tore in two when she heard a young mother crying for her baby. The woman was running frantically to and fro in front of her splintered home, her pretty blonde hair was frazzled and her mascara ran down her cheeks. The young boy had been ripped out of her arms by the force of the winds, it appeared. As Amy watched, a young man, possibly the woman's brother or another relative, took her into his arms and consoled her. Her cries increased, and Amy wondered if he told her the baby's body had been found.

The two figures sank to the ground, and the man rocked the woman as she continued to weep.

"Help! Someone, please help us!" Another desperate voice echoed from what looked like a destroyed gasoline stop station.

Without thinking, Amy and Rory both rushed forward, not considering the fact that they'd be the first to sift through the rubble. "Are you hurt?" Rory yelled as they approached.

The voice belonged to a man, and his words wavered. "I'm — I'm alright. There are others here, though. Some people are hurt. We can't get out!"

"Hold on!" Amy yelled. She pushed her fear for the Doctor to the back of her mind and began digging through the rubble, tossing bricks and concrete behind her as she tried to open a hole into what remained of the business.

Rory worked alongside her. "Keep talking!" he yelled. "How many of you are there?"

"Uh ..." the man trailed off. "At least eight of us. There were others, but ... they're — they're gone."

Amy stilled, suddenly very chilled in the spring air. People were gone, sucked out of the gas station completely. She prayed the Doctor hadn't been one of them.

"We — we can see you!" the man yelled, his voice nearly giving way to tears. "Keep digging!"

Rory and Amy doubled their efforts, until they managed to dig an opening wide enough in the rubble to reveal a very dirty middle-aged man. His clothes — black trousers and a dress shirt — were torn, and Amy could see blood oozing through the fabric's tears. He was sitting on the floor of the store, and a woman's head was positioned in his lap. She looked to be about the same age as the man, and Amy wondered if they were married. The woman's eyes were closed, and blood smeared the side of her face.

"Can you move?" Rory asked, already trying to reach through the hole and toward the man and woman.

The man nodded, his eyes glazed in shock. "It's my wife. She — she was hit with something."

"We'll take care of her," Rory answered. "Try to grab my hand."

••••••••••

What seemed like an eternity later, Amy and Rory had assisted in digging five people out of the rubble of the gas station. Many people were suffering from various injuries, and two were still unconscious and in dire need of medical help, but nonetheless they were free.

Rory stayed busy checking the vitals of those who'd been injured the worst, and Amy watched as her husband's shoulders sagged with relief when the first ambulance appeared. The nurse fired off the necessary information to the medics, who nodded as they began to stabilize the patients and move them toward the ambulance.

Amy sat beside the man they'd first found, who was stroking his wife's hair distractedly. The woman was still out, although Rory had said she was stable and she would live as long as she received helped shortly.

"We were just here visiting family," the man said, glancing at Amy. "We — we didn't know. I don't even know if my family's alive."

Amy put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, not sure what else to do.

"You were searching for someone, yes?" The man asked, and Amy nodded.

"We're looking for a friend," she answered. "He was in the area when the twister hit. We need to find him."

The man squinted at her. "You're a long way from where you're from, aren't you?"

She nodded. "You might say that. I live in England ...," she left out that she actually wasn't born until 1988. "But I was born in Scotland."

"There was a man with an English accent in the store right before the tornado hit," the man said thoughtfully. Amy's heartbeat quickened. Surely that would be the Doctor.

"He was dressed rather oddly ..." the man mused, his eyes unfocused.

"That's him!" Amy said, leaning closer. "Did you see where he went?"

Then, the man turned to look at her — really look at her this time.

His eyes had gone from glazed and distant to suddenly very sad. "He was there one moment, and then the roof was ripped open and he was gone the next."

Amy gasped, and her world suddenly tilted sideways. The man's visage swam in front of her as her eyes suddenly filled with tears. "No. Are, are you sure?"

The man paused, thinking. Amy was silent as she waited. "He, he was looking for someone. There were two people who entered the building before him … I think he was looking for them. He had dark hair. He was wearing a bow-tie, I think. Although I don't remember much more than that. Just as he arrived the tornado struck."

Amy shook her head disbelievingly. They'd found the only survivors from the gas station. All that remained were bodies, all of which weren't his. "Where … where would he be?"

The man looked down at his wife, perhaps realizing that he should feel lucky to still have his companion beside him. "I'm sorry, miss. I watched the tornado take him. Wherever he is, I doubt he could've survived."

••••••••••

Jeffrey — well, that's what he'd taken to calling himself now — grinned as he watched the townspeople struggle to make sense of what had happened. He watched his prey from the shadows of an alleyway that ran between two nearly destroyed businesses close to the gas station the Time Lord had followed them to.

Jeffrey was a little bruised up and bloodied, but he couldn't complain. He'd watched as the Time Lord had literally disappeared before his eyes, into the massive vortex. He was most certainly dead, which sent a pang of longing through Jeffrey. What little bit of Time Lord blood he'd had in the caverns had been exquisite.

"Are you ready, young one?"

Jeffrey looked up into Miriam's dark eyes, which were alight with hunger and anticipation. He nodded, and the two plasmavores slithered into the daylight, strategizing their next move – and deciding who to pick off first.


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you SO much for the reviews! I was so happy, I was inspired to post another chapter!

**CHAPTER 6**

The young man with the old, wise eyes came to with a gasp, and he barely had time to roll onto his side before he spit up what appeared to be a generous amount of blood. The spittle flew from the Doctor's lips and landed on the tall wheat grass beside him, and he choked on the tangy, thick liquid for a few seconds before he was finally able to take in a long, deep breath.

After his coughing fit, he collapsed back onto his back, his eyes trained to the sky above him. Some angry clouds were all that remained of the massive storm system that had swept through Masonville. The Doctor blinked as everything before him split into two, and he held a hand up before him, frowning thoughtfully as he counted more fingers than he should have.

"That's not right," he muttered, his voice weak. "Unless I've suddenly sprouted an additional five fingers …. May be useful, though. Who ever heard of a Time Lord with 10 fingers on one hand? I'd need to build a new sonic screwdriver, I believe ….," he trailed off, suddenly too tired to form any more words.

Everything hurt, but his head is what demanded the most attention. It swam thickly, and he closed his eyes tightly as a wave of nausea overtook him. He was definitely suffering from a concussion, he was sure of it. He remained in the same position on the ground for what seemed like only minutes, but when he opened his eyes again, the sky had grown a bit darker, and the clouds had moved on over the horizon. He'd lost consciousness again.

"Caught sleeping on the job," he chastised himself, not missing the fact that his voice was still weak and shaky.

He groaned softly as he pushed himself up and into a sitting position, and he bit back a gasp at the pain that shot through his left arm. He studied it closely, hissing in pain as he tried to rotate the limb from the shoulder socket.

"Ahhhhh, dislocated shoulder," he managed. "Haven't had one of those in awhile."

His ribs hurt like bloody hell as well, and he wrapped his good arm around his torso in an attempt to stabilize them. A bit of dark red colouring caught his eye and, ignoring the white stars that exploded in his vision as he leaned forward to study the stain, he fingered the ripped cloth of his trousers. It appeared something had struck him in the right leg, just above his knee, and the object — what appeared to be a small piece of twisted metal — could be seen peeking out from the torn hole. Blood was spreading slowly, and he couldn't stop the whimper that escaped his throat as he touched the cool surface of the metal.

"Blimey," he said, his voice cracking with pain.

He flopped back onto the ground, suddenly exhausted, and fought to keep his eyes open. He needed to think! What had happened? How had he gotten here?

_Lots of wind_, he thought to himself as he lay there. _Pain. There was pain ... and ... Amy was screaming at me …_

Amy! And Rory! The Doctor gasped at the sudden remembrance of his friends. He recalled now that he'd left them behind when he'd gone out into the raging storm after the plasmavores. He'd followed them somewhere … to a service station. The Doctor's fuzzy memories weren't providing much more than the most basic of details, but he did know he'd been in the service station when all Hell had broken loose.

And he remembered nothing else before coming to in the field.

The Doctor ran his good hand through his dark brown hair as he racked his brain, trying to orient himself. His thoughts began speeding up, and he barely even noticed that his hand came back with dark, sticky blood. His mind was trying to compensate for the period of unconsciousness he'd experienced, and the Doctor began to regain some of the sharpness he'd seemingly lost.

But then, the Doctor groaned, clutching at his head. It just hurt too much to think, and that was a problem, since he enjoyed thinking very much.

Suddenly very frustrated, the Doctor rolled onto his right side and struggled to rise, ignoring the persistent buzzing in his head that transformed into a hammer as he moved. His right arm was uninjured it seemed, yet his right leg was still bleeding. He wondered how humorous  
>he appeared as he placed all his weight on his good arm and hobbled clumsily on his injured leg.<p>

"Oh, Rassilon, that hurt," he bit out as he wobbled to a standing position. He knew his Time Lord anatomy would allow him to heal faster than a human, but everything hurt, nonetheless.

Squinting into the late-day sun, he examined his surroundings. The field he'd landed in was wide and expansive, and a herd of cattle grazed not far from him. One lifted a horned head, regarding him with dark eyes, and brayed at him, aware that the strange bleeding man didn't belong there.

"Hello to you too," he muttered. The cow snorted. "I'm going, I'm going. Just give me a moment."

Nothing in the field appeared out of the ordinary, save for some various pieces of debris that were scattered about. A rubber tire lay several feet from him, and chunks of brick and mortar littered the  
>land.<p>

The Doctor turned around, balancing precariously on one good leg, and saw an old farmhouse straight ahead of him some distance away. The house, a bright, sunny yellow, with two stories and shuttered windows, appeared intact, so he knew the debris that surrounded him had come from somewhere else. Just as he had. He just had no idea how far out of Masonville he was, or how he was going to find Amy and Rory.

Steeling himself for the onslaught of pain, the Doctor took several small, cautious steps toward the house, but windmilled with his good arm when he began to lose his balance. The hammer beating away in his head was becoming harder to bear, and he fought a bout of dizziness as he struggled to remain upright. He glanced down to see the blood had soaked his trouser leg to his boot.

_Losing a lot of blood_, he thought fuzzily as he stumbled. _Not good. Very, very not good at all. _

The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket and was dismayed to find that his sonic screwdriver had been lost during his trip in the twister. "I'll have to find another one," he said, his words slurring. "I do hope I still have one in storage."

Suddenly very warm, he wiped his hand across his forehead, trying to keep his hair out of his eyes. His eyesight was dulling around the edges, as if a thick smog had settled itself into the corners of his vision, and he forced himself to take several more steps forward.

_Please, let there be somebody there_, he thought as he paused, panting.

As he battled to move forward, he saw a figure emerge from the home. His vision was fading fast, and he could barely make out a bright pink dress and long, light brown hair. The little girl seemed to shout  
>something, but her voice was lost to his ears. The braying cattle and the twittering birds faded away until nothing remained but that infernal hammer, pounding at his battered head.<p>

He had scarcely reached out his good hand toward the young girl, who was approaching him with an adult man behind her, and whispered "Help me, please," before his legs buckled under his weight.

The dirt bit into his face, but all he could do was close his eyes as exhaustion overtook him.

••••••••••

Emily Harrison watched, her eyes wide as saucers, as her father and older brother carried the unconscious man from the field and toward their home. She'd done as her father had said and returned to the safety of the home as soon as he'd caught up to his young daughter.

"Emily, go tell your brother to come out here and stay at the house," Dennis had said, his voice kind, but firm.

She'd nodded obediently and turned back to the house, running as fast as her little legs would carry her.

"John! John!" she'd yelled when she'd entered the home. "Where are you? Daddy needs help!"

John's heavy farming work boots clomped down the stairs, and her freckle-faced brother leaned down toward her.

"What's the matter, Em?"

"There's - there's a man out there. He's hurt," she answered. "Daddy said the tornado might've dragged him in."

John drew in a deep breath. "Good God almighty. Stay here."

Now, John and Dennis were supporting the man between them as they trudged up the steps to the house. Emily thought the man didn't look like he was from anywhere close to Masonville. His skin was pale and not tanned by hours out on the farm, and his hair was much longer than her Daddy's or John's.

The two men laid the young man carefully onto the couch, and the three regarded him for a few short seconds, unsure of what to do next.

"What do we do, Dad?" John asked as he checked the man's pulse. He pulled his hand back quickly, as if he'd touched a flame. "His pulse doesn't feel right."

Dennis shook his head, and Emily caught his eye as he glanced at her. "I don't know son. If only your mother were here."

Emily looked down at the floor, suddenly sad. She missed Mommy so much. After a few more moments of silence, she looked back up at the man. "His hair is so long, Daddy," she said, scrunching up her face.  
>"He looks like a girl."<p>

Dennis laughed, a soft, deep rumbling that Emily realized she hadn't heard much of lately. "Run along and get the medicine kit from the bathroom, girl. And grab a wash cloth and put some warm water on it."

Emily did as she was told immediately and went straight to the medicine cabinet, where her parents had always told her the first aid kit was located. She stood on tiptoe to open the cabinet and pulled down the clunky box with the bright white letters outlined into the red metal. After grabbing a wash cloth and running warm water over it, she returned to the den, where the man was still unconscious.

"Thank you sweetie," Dennis said, and he immediately placed the warm cloth on the young man's forehead and began to wipe away some of the blood that had crusted there. "He took a hit."

"Where did he come from?" John wondered.

Dennis shook his head grimly. "Best guess? The tornado carried him clear from town. It's a miracle it missed us completely."

"But he doesn't look like he's from here, Dad."

Dennis looked up at his son. "So it appears."

And Dennis didn't say any more. Emily's dad was a man of few words. John gasped when he found what looked like a bloody wound on the man's leg. "Dad, he's been stuck with something. He's bleeding badly."

Dennis moved from above the man's head and down to his right leg to examine the piece of metal that was sticking through the man's trousers. After a few moments, he fingered the object and, realizing it was stuck fast, grunted. "I don't think it hit any arteries, but he's lost quite a bit of blood. This man needs a hospital."

"But the phone lines are down," John answered.

"Then we have to take him ourselves," the older man answered.

Emily quit listening to them when she noticed the man on the couch twitch. Without hesitation, she moved forward, until she was beside his head, and watched as his eyelids began to flutter.

"Daddy?" she asked, as the man groaned.

His eyes opened slowly to reveal green orbs that Emily thought were similar to her mom's. "Where — where am I?" he asked, his eyes studying each of them.

"You sound funny," she answered, and his eyes widened. She thought she saw his mouth turn up at the corner in a weak smile.

"Emily, honey," Dennis said gently, and she felt herself being pulled backwards by her father's large hands. "Son, do you know what happened to you?"

The man looked like he was thinking, and then he nodded slowly. "I believe I had a go-round with a twister," he bit back a groan. "Though I believe the twister may have won."

"You're pretty far from home, young man," Dennis told him.

The man nodded again, although his eyes slid shut as he did so. "Yes, I believe I am."

"You sound like you're from England," John said.

"I'm from a lot farther away than that," the man answered, cryptically. The family paused.

"What's your name?" Dennis asked.

The man smiled weakly as he tried to push himself into a sitting position. "I'm the Doctor."

Dennis waited, and John and Emily paused as well, waiting for their father's cue.

"Just-just the Doctor?" Dennis asked, confused.

"Yes, just the Doctor," the man said as he placed his good hand to his forehead, obviously in pain.

That revelation caused the three to pause. "Well," Dennis finally said. "You're safe now, but we've got to get you to a hospital."

The Doctor sat up straighter, then fell back again as his injuries protested the movement. "No! No hospitals, please. I just need to go find my friends and finish my business in Masonville … well, what's left of Masonville, that is."

The Doctor paused and sighed. "Nature. The scariest monster in the universe."

He tried to stand then, but fell back onto the couch most unceremoniously with another groan.

"Mister, you don't look so good," John offered.

The Doctor nodded. "Well, brilliant observation, but I must insist on no hospitals. You have to trust me. I'll be fine. I just have to get to town, find my friends, and all will be right as rain."

The small family watched as the Doctor struggled to stand once again. With a small, triumphant chortle, he pulled himself upward, only to waver dangerously, and the Doctor reached out his uninjured arm to grasp the couch for support. His eyes squeezed shut as he concentrated on staying upright.

"Just … have to ... take it slowly, yes?" the Doctor tried. Then, his body slumped, and he sat backward onto the couch, drained of all energy.

"Er …. Don't suppose you can give me a lift into town?" he asked.

••••••••••

It was growing dark by the time Amy and Rory felt themselves able to step away from the rescue operations continuing around the town of Masonville. Rory glanced over at his wife as they sat on the curb in front of a shuttered store. Her usually sharp, sparkling eyes were hooded, and unshed tears threatened to spill over and onto her cheeks. The Doctor was missing, and she was beside herself.

"Amy," he soothed, as he put an arm around her. "We'll find him."

She only nodded then, and bit her lip, deep in thought. She was no doubt running through all of the things that could've happened to the Doctor.

Rory only held her then, and she leaned into his embrace as they watched a young couple across the street from them begin to pick through the remains of a small clothing boutique. The young woman was  
>crying, and the man simply kept a steadying, comforting had on her arm as they dazedly moved some rubble around. The store appeared to be a complete loss.<p>

"I never, ever want to see anything like this again, Rory," Amy said, her voice thick with emotion. He turned to regard his wife, and his heart hitched as he watched one lone tear run a path down her grimy cheek.

"I know," he answered, because he did. He would take the hideous, terrifying things they'd seen in their travels with the Doctor any day over this. This ... this was too much. A whole town was gone, people  
>were dead, and his heart broke for every person he saw still reeling from the massive twister's destruction.<p>

The woman across the street wailed, and Rory's hand tightened around his wife's shoulder. The young Masonville couple were bent over, studying something they'd found. The woman held it up for the man to see, and Rory could make out the black and white images of a photo. He couldn't be sure, but it looked like a very old grand opening picture. Very old.

"These people's lives ...," Amy trailed off, then, unable to watch the couple any longer, buried her head in the crook of his arm.

"I know," he breathed out.

There really wasn't anything else to say. 


	7. Chapter 7

_Hello pretties! I'm on a roll. Here's another chapter. I probably won't post any more until next week, so I hope this will hold you over. Thanks so much for reading. I don't own Doctor Who, of course. Rating is probably still a T for general Doctor whump, and I've sprinkled a couple bad words here and there …. There will probably be more later when Amy really gets riled up. _

**Chapter 7**

Dennis Harrison took care to maneuver his old pickup truck over debris as carefully as possible, lest he send his young patient into another bout of unconsciousness. He, his daughter Emily and his son John, who was in the truck bed with the young man, had loaded stranger into the truck carefully, but the movement had jarred the man's injuries so severely that he'd almost passed out. Dennis knew time was of the essence, and he'd taken off to town at a decent clip before being forced to slow down as the approached the outskirts of Masonville.

"My God," he whispered, as they passed yet another destroyed home. People were wondering about here and there, not sure what to do. There was only one of a few vehicles on the road, and everyone was moving slowly so as not to run over any live wires or nails.

"Daddy, everything's gone," Emily said, her voice shaking.

Dennis wished he could shield his 6-year-old from the images before them. They were difficult for a grown man to absorb, much less a child.

"Yes honey. But everyone will rebuild. Masonville will come back from this."

It was times like these he wished, more than anything, that Irene was still with them. If she'd been there, she would've gathered Emily up in her arms and sung something to her, which always calmed Emily.

But she wasn't here.

They passed what looked like a body covered in a sheet, and Emily whimpered.

••••••••••

John kept a soothing hand on the Doctor's good arm as the truck rolled over another piece of wood, but that didn't stop the man from groaning as he bounced a bit under the blanket. "Sorry," John said, and the man watched him through pain-filled eyes.

"It's quite alright," he answered, before grimacing as the truck bounced again.

"So ... what brought you to Masonville?" John asked.

The Doctor was silent, and John leaned closer in an attempt to make the man's expression out in the darkness. "We were, ah, looking for something. Several of them, actually." Then, he sighed. "The buggers had to go and get us caught up in the middle of a tornado."

Another bump in the road, and he groaned again.

"What — what were you looking for?"

The Doctor became quite still, and John could feel his eyes staring into him through the darkness, sizing him up. "Oh, young John. There are things in this world — across the galaxies — that I find myself looking for nearly every day."

John leaned forward, suddenly trusting this man although the words coming out of his mouth sounded like they belonged with an asylum patient. "What — what sort of things?"

Then, he looked at John again, and very purposefully, said "Tell me, John, about your family. It'll help to pass the time and keep me distracted."

John nodded, accepting that the Doctor didn't want to go into any detail. He really wasn't sure he wanted to know exactly what the Doctor had seen and done. "Well, it's just me, my little sister and my Pa now. We're just a normal family I guess."

"Where's your mother?" the man asked, genuinely curious, and though John found the question a bit nosy, he decided to oblige his new friend because he had an inkling the Doctor liked asking questions. It seemed a part of his nature.

"She died last year," he answered, and his voice suddenly wavered. His throat closed up, just the slightest, lending evidence that he could not yet talk about his mother without becoming upset. "She, ah, she got sick. Cancer."

"Oh, John," the man voiced, and he patted John's hand with his non-injured hand. The dislocated arm he still held gingerly against his chest. "I'm sorry. I assume she was a good mother, beautiful and kind. They always are."

John only nodded as a tear slipped down his cheek. He brushed it away angrily and chose to stare over the lip of the truck bed. What stared back were damaged and destroyed buildings, crying women and children and even a few sheet-covered bodies.

John decided to look back at the Doctor.

"Yeah, she was," he said, his heart breaking again as he thought of his mother during her last days. Her bright, sparkling blue eyes had become lifeless and dulled, and her long, thick dark blonde hair had long since fallen out. She died in pain, and as fragile as John had ever seen her.

"Have you — have you lost your mother too?" John couldn't help but ask, because the Doctor's voice had been tinged with deeply-rooted sadness as he'd reassured the teenager.

"I've lost much, much more than that."

John didn't know what to say to that, because he knew the Doctor wasn't lying.

"Your sister ... she's so young," the Doctor spoke again.

"Yeah, she is," John said, but could find no other words. He simply sat there in silence as the truck moved, and a sudden bounce caused him to automatically reach for his new friend's good shoulder in an effort to stabilize him.

The man's eyes sparked with immense pain, but he nodded to John gratefully for the gesture. "I'm sorry I can't give you better directions on where to drop me off. I'm afraid I've become all turned around since the twister, and I've gone a misplaced my sonic screwdriver …. Bloody tornado."

"It's alright. We'll just go toward downtown," John answered as he watched the truck's progression through the streets. They turned a corner, and the Masonville Medical Clinic loomed before them against the night sky. The hospital was dark, however, and John gasped when he caught sight of the blown out windows and crumbling brick. The structure was still standing, but barely.

The truck rolled to a stop, and Dennis bounded out to stare at the two in the truck bed. "I brought you here because I want to tell you again how much you need to go to a hospital, son."

The Doctor shook his head and remained where he was. "No, trust me. I do not. Besides," he nodded at the heavily damaged building. "I would take up a bed that someone else would need far more than I do."

The hospital was small, with only75 or so beds, but the emergency personnel seemed to have their hands full evacuating patients from the crippled facility. Numerous medic vehicles lined the curb in front of the building, and John watched as volunteers and authorities collaborated to load the waiting patients into waiting vehicles to be transported to another hospital.

"Help me up, young John."

The teenager did so without hesitation, trusting that the man knew how much he could do and what was best. The English man sighed and breathed out a "blimey" as he stared at the hospital over the side of the truck.

"Now, if only I knew where Amy and Rory were."

••••••••••

Jeffrey saw the red truck rumble to a stop, and his eyes widened when he took in the sight of an injured Time Lord wobbling to a standing position in the bed of the vehicle, with help from a young human. The  
>plasmavore's mouth, already stained with the blood of numerous humans, watered when he caught scent of the Doctor's blood. He could scarcely believe his luck.<p>

He watched, still as a statue, and imagined how good the Time Lord would taste again.

But his attention was diverted to the little girl who hopped out of the front passenger side of the truck. Jeffrey so enjoyed little girls.

"Perhaps I could have both," he breathed, suddenly very excited at the prospect of feeding off of a Time Lord and a healthy little girl.

A slurping noise from behind him made him turn, and he watched as Miriam, kneeling over a tornado victim, noisily licked her lips. The fact was that plasmavores remained ravenous, no matter how many victims they fed off of. Jeffrey and Miriam's bloody trail of death stretched from the northeast corner of Masonville to the hospital's location.

But they weren't finished. Not by a long shot.

"Miriam," he barked, and she scrambled to her feet and joined him obediently. Jeffrey looked the younger of the two, but his power and experience far outweighed Miriam's — or Matthew's.

"I want him," he pointed at the Doctor, and she made a small noise of hesitation.

"But, that creature caused us to lose Matthew. He is trouble," she said, softly. "Perhaps it would be best —,"

He held up a clawed hand, and she stopped, cowed. "And I want the little girl."

Miriam protested again. "You can have all the little girls you want. Why her?"

Jeffrey reached up and slapped Miriam across the face. She whimpered and backed away a few steps. "Do as I say."

"Yes, yes," she answered.

••••••••••

The Doctor's legs nearly buckled beneath him as he was helped from the back of the truck to the ground. His injured leg was still bleeding, though the pace had slowed, and his dislocated shoulder throbbed constantly. This wasn't enough to cause regeneration, and for that, he was thankful, but the Doctor figured he couldn't deal with much more abuse.

"Oh, I do wish I had my sonic," he grimaced as he put a steadying hand on the truck for balance. Young John didn't stray far from him, and the teenager's eyes watched him carefully. His tired mind registered the protectiveness, and he felt his two hearts swell with his fondness for humans. So caring, they were.

"Sonic?" Dennis' eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Son, I think you're delirious."

The Doctor sighed then and tried to stand tall to look the father in the eyes. Dennis' features, while ruggedly handsome, were lined with years of hard farm work in the harsh weather, and the Doctor knew some of the signs of aging had been spurred by the death of his wife.

"I think if you knew just how old I really am, you would not be addressing me as such," the Doctor said, slightly annoyed. He'd found this body had lent many people to consider him inferior, especially compared to those who appeared older than he.

Dennis paused then shook his head, choosing not to pursue that line of thought. "How are we going to find your friends with you in this shape?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but something slammed into him with such speed and ferocity that he was on the ground before he could even react. "Ahhhh!" He couldn't help but yell out as he landed hard on his injured shoulder, and he looked up to see Miriam staring over him triumphantly. "Ah, Bloodsucking Miriam," he wheezed out as he fought to catch his breath. "You missed me, I suppose."

The Doctor heard John and Dennis' yells of surprise, and tried to tell them to stay away even as they moved forward to pull the humanoid off of their new friend.

"If you move another step, I'll kill her where she stands," Jeffrey's voice, low and menacing, enveloped the Doctor's consciousness, and his hearts seized when he realized what had occurred.

Still on the ground, the Doctor craned his neck to see Jeffrey, his mouth and chin covered in the blood of tornado victims, holding tightly onto a shaking Emily.

"Oh God, Emily," Dennis breathed, before moving forward quickly. The man no doubt assumed Jeffrey was nothing more than a boy only a year or two older than his daughter.

"No! Dennis STOP!"

The Doctor's voice took on an air of authority Dennis hadn't heard before, and the man halted. "That thing is not a human child. It will kill her without hesitation if you don't do as it asks."

"I'll kill her either way," Jeffrey answered. "It's just a question of now or later."

The Doctor felt a line of drool land on his cheek, and he shot a disgusted glance above him to regard Miriam's dark, soulless eyes. "You don't want to do this," he told her, his mouth drawn into a thin line. His anger was beginning to bubble forth, though he doubted he could do much damage at the moment.

Miriam tilted her head at him, appearing animalistic in her bloodlust, and looked to Jeffrey.

Then, the Doctor addressed Jeffrey. "Let her go, Jeffrey. I won't ask you again."

"Do you really think I'm afraid of you?" Jeffrey sneered. "Especially with the shape you're in?"

"For God's sake, he's just a boy," Dennis said through gritted teeth, as he shuffled forward. Jeffrey bared his set of bloody, sharp teeth at the man before tightening his hold on Emily's neck. The little girl whimpered.

"Emily, you're being so brave," the Doctor said as he struggled to position himself so he could watch Jeffrey more closely. "It will be alright."

Jeffrey chuckled. "Miriam, bring him."

The Doctor was hauled to his feet, and Miriam's hand held a vise-like grip on his arm. The Doctor groaned softly as he was forced to place weight on his wounded leg, and she giggled, amused at his obvious pain.

"Wait, my daughter!" Dennis said, at a loss of what to do. The Doctor's hearts went out to the father, who looked torn over whether to lunge for the little girl, danger be damned, or stay close to his other child, who was standing precariously close to Miriam.

John decided for him.

"No John!"

The Doctor's warning fell on deaf ears as John leapt forward, his young, thin body already within reaching distance to Emily. Jeffrey shoved the girl behind him quicker than the Doctor could see and was on top of John in an instant.

The Doctor tried his best to escape Miriam's clutches as John screamed, but he was too weak. Instead, it was all he could do to sink to the ground as Miriam released him and grabbed at Dennis, who'd lunged forward desperately to aid his son.

He'd never felt so useless in his more than 900 years of existence.

"NO! Jeffrey, let him go! I will come with you!"

Jeffrey paused just as he'd begun to sink his teeth into John's neck. "And the girl. I want both of you."

"No," John choked out, his brown eyes moving from the Doctor to his father wildly. "No."

The Doctor struggled into a standing position then and turned to Dennis, who's eyes were wide and desperate. The man was within seconds of losing what family he had left. "You have to let me do this," he said, voice low and firm. "You have to trust me."

Dennis could only shake his head.

"You have to, Dennis. Emily will be safer with me than if we fight this. They'll kill us all right here."

The father let out a moan.

Then, the Doctor looked to John, still being held at bay by Jeffrey's claws and teeth. "Amy and Rory. Find them. Tell them to call for the TARDIS, get a new sonic and find us."

John could only nod.

"Redhead and legs for days," he breathed, suddenly exhausted. "Tall, thin man with sandy hair and a big nose."

Jeffrey was up within a blink of an eye, and with a nod to Miriam, Dennis had been shoved to the ground and the Doctor hauled forward. Emily, who had tried to move away, unnoticed, was suddenly in Jeffrey's clutches again.

Emily, honey, we'll find you," Dennis said. "We will."

"I love you." His words cracked, filled to the brim with raw emotion — terror, anger, disbelief.

As the Doctor, Emily and the plasmavores moved into the shadows, Emily watched her father with huge, terrified eyes. "I love you too Daddy."

And then they were gone.


	8. Chapter 8

_Here's Chapter 8. Sorry for the delay! School is about to start again, and that, coupled with my writing for work can make it really difficult to get chapters out regularly. But I'm going to shoot for once a week or once every couple weeks. _

**Chapter 8**

John could only stare, dumbfounded, at the spot his little sister and the Doctor and those — those things had been. He could hear nothing, save for the sounds of medical personnel shuttling patients from the heavily damaged hospital and to waiting medic vans and his own blood rushing through his body. It pounded away at his eardrums, pumped by a racing heart. He was trembling from the close encounter he'd had with the creature that had resembled a child not much older than Emily. Its strength had been terrifying, and, absently, John reached up a hand to feel the scrape marks on his neck where the monster's teeth had nearly bitten down.

"We — we have to find them," he said, softly. But his father didn't turn. He seemed rooted to the spot. "Dad? Dad, we have to —"

"They took her," he said then, and John waited for his father to speak again as he pushed himself to his feet. "That thing took Emily."

Dennis turned around, and John couldn't help but shrink back a bit as he took in his father's fearsome expression. "We lost your mother. We're not losing Emily too."

John nodded as he moved toward his father. "The Doctor said we have to find his friends. They'll know what to do."

Dennis ran a hand through his hair. "Whoever that man is, I am going to hold him to his promise. If anything happens to Emily, I'll ...," but Dennis trailed off, his mouth pulled into a dark grimace.

John had never really been afraid of his father before, but he found that he was terrified of what the man was capable of at that moment.

"Come on, Dad," he said, moving toward his father. "We have to look for Amy and Rory."

••••••••••

The Doctor grunted again as he was pulled forward by Miriam's claws. "If you could just slow down, I would be eternally grateful," he said as he fought to keep his legs moving underneath him. He looked down to see the metal object shining gleefully at him through the hole in his trousers, and he pulled a face. The pain had never gone away, but he'd grown accustomed to it.

Or maybe his leg was becoming numb. He couldn't be sure.

Emily was ahead of the Doctor, being pulled behind Jeffrey, and she looked back at him to regard him with wide eyes. She appeared mostly unscathed from the scuffle at the hospital, besides a few spots of dirt on her pretty dress, and the Doctor was grateful for that. He'd given Dennis and John his word that the young girl wouldn't be harmed.

"Jeffrey, I don't understand what you want," the Doctor said, his voice weaker than he wanted it to be. "You've got your destroyed town, with everyone here for the picking. Why us?"

"Why Emily?"

Jeffrey didn't slow his pace as they moved from dark alleyway to dark alleyway toward the outskirts of town. "You're special, Time Lord. Your blood tastes like nothing I've ever had. And the girl — well, the exquisite nature of a healthy young girl's blood can rival the deliciousness of a Time Lord's. She's healthy, so I want her. I've had my fill of the dead and dying. For now, anyway."

Emily sniffled, trying to hold back tears, and the Doctor thoroughly wished he was healthy enough to do something very, very bad to Jeffrey. "You will pay for this."

Jeffrey cackled. "Threats? Coming from you?"

"That wasn't a threat," the Doctor answered, darkly and dangerously. "You can be sure of your fate for the series of events you've set. I cannot promise you a fast death, or even death. Because, after what you've done, and still may do yet, you're in for many, many years of pain."

The Doctor grimaced as he fought to remain upright, but he continued. "And solitude. And starvation. Imagine that, Jeffrey. Imagine going hundreds and hundreds of years with nothing more than your own flesh to feed off of. Your species can survive that long, yes, but after so long without blood, your bodies begin to feed off of themselves."

The Doctor was very, very angry, and his voice lowered several notches as he spoke. He could feel Miriam shrink away from him even as she kept hold of his arm. She was scared of him. That was smart of her.

"The cycle, I hear, is extremely painful and can take some time before you've nothing left but a deflated bag of skin. And yet, you still live. Plasmavores are hardwired to survive, no matter what. No matter the cost," he sucked in a breath as he fought a wave of pain. "Funny, I remember one of your fellow bloodsuckers saying something similar to that, a long time ago. But I defeated you once, and I'll do it again."

The Doctor didn't stop. He was a force within himself. "You'll live another hundred years or so as an empty shell, lying on the cold, dirty floor of whatever holding cell you're thrown into. I doubt you'll even have any sense of what you are, as your brain would've been consumed by your own body long before then."

Jeffrey had stopped during the Doctor's quiet, dangerous speech. "You do not know what you speak of," he intoned, as he turned to regard the Doctor with dark eyes. "I will live off of this town for the rest of my long life. You may have stopped Matthew from joining us, but we will prevail. I will not starve. I will feed off of human blood every. Single. Day."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," the Doctor spat, leaning toward the shorter alien. "My friends will come, and you'll be captured and left to rot in a prison cell for the rest of your pathetic, empty existence."

Jeffrey growled. "You think you'll live beyond tonight, Doctor? High hopes, those are."

The thought that the Doctor may not live to see the sunrise had crossed his mind, and he felt a fleeting sense of sadness at the idea. He rather enjoyed his current incarnation, and he didn't even know if he'd be able to regenerate, should Jeffrey decide to drain him of the precious little blood he had left. He was in a seriously bad situation, and he was much farther away from his TARDIS than he felt comfortable with, but he still held out hope that Dennis and John would find Amy and Rory, and that they'd come to their rescue.

"Hmmm … I need rescuing," he breathed. "That's new."

Emily began to cry then as she watched the two stare each other down. Jeffrey appeared stronger and more able-bodied than the Doctor, who'd gone even paler than before and who wavered on his feet. But Emily saw the deep anger that roiled in the man's green eyes. Those eyes were stormy, and she truly believed the Doctor meant every word of what he'd said about Jeffrey's fate.

And then, at the sound of her quiet sobs, the Doctor's eyes changed. A spark of kindness appeared in those mossy green depths and the man reached out his good arm toward her. "Now Emily, don't cry. We'll get out of this. Believe me."

Jeffrey snorted as he turned away from his stare-down and grabbed the young girl roughly by the arm. "Miriam," he barked.

The Doctor grunted as the female plasmavore's claws dug into his arm, and the group began moving again toward the countryside that surrounded Masonville.

••••••••••

"Excuse me, I'm looking for a friend," Amy asked the police man who looked much too busy to be bothering with her. "He was in a building hit by the tornado, and now we can't find him —,"

"I'm sorry, miss, but missing loved ones are being registered at city hall," the officer replied shortly, even as he moved Amy and Rory back out of the roadway as he waved a fire truck through. Amy and Rory had wondered from downtown Masonville back toward the northeast part of town in hopes that their route — alongside the destructive path the twister had taken — would yield some clues as to the Doctor's whereabouts.

"City hall?" Rory asked. "We're not sure where —,"

The officer's radio crackled to life, drowning out Rory's voice. The speaker fired off a round of information that included many numbers, and the officer abruptly turned away to deal with the issue without another word.

Amy sighed. "We're getting nowhere," she said.

Rory nodded. "All we can do is keep looking."

Rory's concern for his friend's well-being was rising with each passing minute. It wasn't like the Doctor to not come springing back into the thick of things, none the worse for wear. Rory checked his watch — which he'd set to Masonville's time zone — and realized the Doctor had been missing for nearly eight hours, as it was less than an hour away from midnight. He realized, with a start, that he was incredibly drained, and starving, and worried for his friend.

And for his wife. Rory turned to watch Amy as she huffed, tapping her toes in an impatient rhythm as she shot daggers into the officer's large back. It had taken Rory quite some time to realize that Amy's Raggedy Doctor would always hold a special place in her heart — a place that Rory couldn't even fathom entering. But Rory had learned that he'd taken up residence in Amy's heart as well, in a much different way. She'd started calling them "her boys," and although Rory had and always would roll his eyes at her affectionate nickname for them, he knew it was evidence of her immense love for both of them.

And one of her boys was missing, so all was not right in Amy's world. As Rory watched, Amy ran an impatient hand through her long, fiery red hair, and he found himself enthralled by the beauty of that shade of auburn, despite the dirt and grime that streaked her tresses, and despite the dire circumstanced they'd found themselves in. She was his Amy. His. And he had a duty to do all he could to make her world right, whether that be —

"Oh shit," he breathed, his train of thought lost as Amy abandoned patience and strode angrily over to the officer.

"Oi!" she said, as she stomped over to the rotund man. "I was asking you a question! I am looking for someone! We need your help, officer. Isn't that in the officer code … thing?"

The officer's eyebrows shot up to his hairline in surprise, and it appeared that he saw Amy for the first time since the couple had asked for his assistance. That didn't mean she wasn't royally pissing him off, though.

"Excuse me, I don't know how you act where you're from, but we're dealing with a very serious situation here, and I've got no time to deal with you, missy."

Rory tried to calm things down. He really did. "Officer, we completely understand how much stress you're under, but we think our friend's hurt, and we don't know where to —,"

"You friend?" the officer asked, as turned to stare Rory down. "Your friend? Do you realize how many people here are dead? Do you realize Masonville is never going to be the same? I've got destroyed homes, more than 100 injured people, scores of dead people, and you want me to drop everything and look for your friend. You're not even from here. Why should I help you over everyone else?"

And then the officer chose to wag a finger in their faces as he talked.

"I suggest you put that finger down, or we may have some trouble," Rory stated, as firmly as he could manage.

"I'm an officer of the law, kid, and if you speak back at me one more time, I'll throw you in jail for disorderly conduct!"

Rory's gaze moved from the man's light gray eyes to his forehead, where a large vein was bulging ominously. The officer's bloated face was red and had a thin sheen of sweat. The man was obviously not in a good place, and Amy and Rory had made things worse.

"Disorderly conduct?" Amy roared as she moved forward until she was face-to-face with the man. "I'll show you disorderly conduct! You call yourself an officer of the law? Aren't there some physical tests you have to pass? You could fit two people in that uniform. You couldn't outrun a sloth!"

"Oh God," Rory said, but he was rooted to the spot. It was as if he was watching a car accident in slow motion that he found himself unable to turn away from. He found in times like these that it was best to let Amy's Scottish temper explode in all its glory. But then again, time in jail had never really been a possible consequence to her anger..

"That's it!" the officer screeched as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs meant only for Amy. "We'll see how damn clever you are in jail young lady!"

"Todd?"

The officer, who Rory surmised was named "Todd," turned, his eyes bulging from his blood-red face. "Dennis? John?"

Rory, Amy and Todd paused as a middle-aged man and a teenager all but sprinted toward them. The man looked as stressed as Rory felt, and the teenager held a solemn expression. "Er, Todd, what's going on?"

Todd huffed. "I'm about to show this disrespectful young lady how we do things in America."

Amy opened her mouth to reply, no doubt intending to use a string of curse words that would make a sailor blush, but Rory interrupted her. "Ahh, just a misunderstanding, though. We were just looking for a  
>friend."<p>

"The Doctor," the teenager spoke then.

Amy's eyes lit up beautifully. "Yes! That's him! Have you found him?"

The officer put a large hand on her shoulder as she tried to take a step toward the two farmers. "Oh, no you don't. If you think I'm letting you off after the way you acted —,"

"Please, Todd, we're all on the edge here," Dennis said. "Just let them go. We were looking for these two anyway."

Todd hesitated, and Amy beamed at them. "Yes Todd. Let us go, and we won't bother you again. Promise."

The officer sighed. "I don't have time to be taking you in anyway," then, he looked at Dennis. "They're your responsibility now."

Amy practically leapt away from Todd, until she was in line with Rory again.

"Twister get your place, Dennis?" Todd asked, while still eyeing Amy wearily.

The farmer shook his head. "Nope. Clear missed us. But we've got something to sort out, and we need our friends here to do it."

"Hey," Todd said, confused. "Where's Emily?"

As Rory watched, Dennis' face went from genial to heartbroken in an instant. And then, it had returned to its normal state before Todd even registered it. "She's with my sister in Carmel," he answered, his voice soft. "Didn't want to make her see all this, and we felt we were needed here."

Todd nodded. "Good idea. It's bad here." Then, he nodded to the two men before turning to Amy and Rory. "You behave." He was talking to both of them, but Rory knew he meant it for Amy.

"Yes officer," Amy said, lightly, as she grabbed Rory's hand.

"Whew," she said, almost giddily, as they walked away from Officer Todd. "That was a close one. I can't wait to tell the Doctor how we got out of that tight spot."

Then, she stopped, and Rory, Dennis and John stopped as well. "You say you found the Doctor? Where is he? Is he okay? Can you take us to him?"

Dennis held up a large, tanned hand. "Yes, we did find him. In our field. He was injured pretty badly."

Amy put a hand up to her mouth, but didn't speak.

"We brought him to town to look for you two, even though I still think he needs a hospital," Dennis said. "We weren't here long, before something — something attacked us."

"It looked like a kid," John said. "But it was all bloody and had sharp teeth. It was strong, too."

"It took Emily, my daughter," Dennis cut in, his voice raw with desperation. "And the Doctor. He told us to find you, that you would help them. Please, please find my daughter."

Amy clutched onto Rory's arm for support as the listened, and when Dennis fell silent, Rory cleared his throat, unsure of what to say. "The Doctor said to find us? That we would save them?"

Dennis nodded.

This was bad. This was very bad. The Doctor was injured so badly that he was relying on them to save the day. How were they supposed to do that? How were they supposed to find the Doctor, the little girl and deal with the vampire things?

John must've noticed the shock on Rory's face, and he tried to offer up some reassurance. "Um, the Doctor said you should call for something called the TARDIS? And to find another, um, sonic screwdriver?"

"Right, quite right," Amy said, as she squared her shoulders. "We'll just ... call for the TARDIS then."

"How are we going to do that?" Rory asked.

She cupped her hands around her mouth. "SEXY!" she screamed, as loud as her voice would carry. "We're right here, Sexy! Come to us! The Doctor needs us!"

Her voice died down, and the three males shuffled their feet, completely embarrassed by her outburst.

"Um, that's — that's the TARDIS' name," Rory offered.

John, being the red-blooded teenage male that he was, looked like he wanted to collapse into giggles. Dennis just looked mortified.

"Are you sure these are the right people?" Dennis asked his son, his eyes distinctly suspicious.

"Trust us," Amy answered, her eyes still trained to the night sky above Masonville. "We're the right people. Have you heard anyone else with these accents around here?"

John shrugged. "She has a point, Dad."

In that moment, the strange "whoosh whoosh" of the TARDIS' arrival filled the air, and the two Harrisons' mouths dropped open in disbelief as the blue 1960s-era police box materialized into view in front of the group.

"But, but that's ... how ...?" Dennis was at a loss for words.

Amy moved toward the TARDIS triumphantly, already reaching for her key that had been tucked away in her jacket. "Told you it would work," she said. Her auburn hair whipped around her face, forming a halo of fire, as she turned to regard the men. "Well? You comin' or not? We've no time to dawdle. The Doctor and your little girl need help."

That spurred Dennis and John forward, and they followed the redhead into the box diligently, with Rory bringing up the rear.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hello! First, I owe you all a sincere apology. This is coming a couple weeks too late. I have gotten behind with the beginning of a new semester and work combined. To top that, I'm uploading this chapter from work (and we use Macs, so I apologize for any weird formatting) because we're having serious issues with our Internet at home._

_But good news, everyone! I have another chapter after this ready to go! I just have to do some clean-up. _

**Chapter 9**

The Doctor came to with a groan, and he shook his head to clear it of the cobwebs that had taken residence there. He remembered entering the caves with Emily and the plasmavores, and not much else.

"I seem to be tied to a chair," he muttered as he flexed his tired muscles against the thick rope that wrapped around him and a solid wooden chair. "Lovely."

The Doctor didn't know how much time had passed since he and Emily had been tied down and left to their own devices by the plasmavores. Then again, he couldn't be sure of anything anymore, including where exactly they were. The cavern they'd been placed in appeared as identical as the others, dark and musty, and he was afraid his impeccable sense of direction wasn't quite up to standard, thanks to his physical condition.

Across the room, he heard the crying. The little girl's voice was soft, yet it held a keening edge to it. "Emily?" he asked, as he tested the strength of the ropes again. "Emily? Talk to me. How are you doing?"

The crying stopped. Then, her voice echoed back to him. "You wouldn't answer for a long time."

The Doctor held back a Gallifreyan curse as he found that the ropes were just as tightly bound as the last time he'd checked. His body was growing weaker and weaker, and so he felt he didn't even have it in him to fight the binds.

"I tried to talk to you, but you wouldn't say anything," she said.

"How long was I out?"

"I don't know. A long time."

The Doctor knew that didn't really help much, as "a long time" may mean a few scant minutes to a child. To him, "a long time" fell somewhere between 500 years to several centuries. It really depended on how one chose to pass the time.

"Well, I'm back, Emily, so don't you worry. I'll get us out of this." But his voice held just the tiniest hint of doubt. All the Doctor really had left was his friends.

_Please hurry, Ponds._

"I know my friends will come for us, and your father and brother as well. We'll be okay," he told her, his voice kind and gentle. "But while we wait, Emily, can you do something for me?"

"Yes," she said, although her voice was hesitant.

"Tell me how tightly those ropes are around your wrists. Can you move in any way?"

The little girl made a small sound, and he heard the rustle of her dress as she shifted in the crude chair she'd been tied to. "Maybe ... but it hurts."

"I know it does. It hurts me too, Emily," the Doctor paused. "Emily, you never told me how old you are."

He heard her as she continued to wriggle free of the ropes. "Um, I'm seven," she said, as she whimpered. "My birthday is in July."

"Oh, fantastic. Seven is a good age," he said as he struggled still. "Happy early birthday, Emily."

She began to cry again, her fear getting the best of her. "Emily," he said. "Emily, do you trust me?"

There was a beat of silence, and he squinted through the darkness to watch her small body pull against the ropes. "Uh huh," she finally said.

"Good, then don't cry. There's no need for it. You'll be home and in your bed soon, and all this will be in the past." The Doctor had never been very good at dealing with crying children. It always broke his hearts. "We'll get out of this, but I need you to keep trying to get out of those ropes for me."

Emily didn't say anything, but his keen hearing picked up the sound of rough rope sliding against the back of the chair, and a moment later, she simply said. "I'm out."

"Good, very good!" he answered, his hope soaring. "Can you untie your legs?"

"I'll try Mister Doctor."

The Doctor sagged in relief, although his nerves were tightly coiled. He assumed Jeffrey and Miriam would be back any moment, and so their time was limited. He was just grateful the two decided to do their own dirty work instead of using Slabs like Florence had used when he and Martha had dealt with her shenanigans. "Hurry, Emily. As fast as you can."

The Doctor waited, and although it was probably only seconds before he heard her moving toward him, it felt like an eternity. Every second brought them closer to a quite possibly slow and bloody death, considering Jeffrey seemed rather keen on having his fill of Emily and the Time Lord.

Then, her small hands were resting gently on his arm — the arm that was currently dislocated, but he didn't mind. The gentle pressure was nothing against the sharp throbbing that radiated from his shoulder socket, since his arms had been pulled back and around the chair.

"What do I do?"

"Untie my hands," he said. "As quickly as you can, Emily."

She obeyed without hesitation, and he felt her small fingers working on the knot. "It's so tight."

"That a girl," he answered as the ropes began to loosen. His arm screamed at him as he began to move it forward, and he fought to not black out as the pain blossomed, sending a shockwave through his body. The Doctor gritted his teeth as he leaned down and began to work at his feet with his good hand. He fought the dizziness that enveloped him as he did so, and he found himself truly dreading their attempt to escape the caverns. Because it would surely involve running, and Emily was far too small to offer any support to his wounded body.

He would just have to suck it up, pain be damned. He'd done it many times before, and he'd do it again. He'd be fine. He hoped.

With a yank, the Doctor's legs were free, and he had just enough time to catch himself on his uninjured shoulder before he hit the rough, stone floor of the cavern with a thump.

"Well then," he croaked as he pushed himself up. "Let's find a way out of here, shall we?" He looked down at Emily, whose tiny wrists were scraped and swollen. He could see the blood that stained her wrists easily. And he could smell it. That meant the plasmavores would pick up the scent soon enough, if they hadn't already.

The Doctor ushered Emily forward with his good arm, and he stumbled toward the wall of the cave, desperate for any support he could garner. He forced himself toward the entryway to the cavern nearest them, and with a quick lick of his finger — dirt and blood, yuck — he surmised that the nearest opening to the surface shouldn't be far away down the tunnel.

"This way," he said. Emily stayed beside him as they took off, and he moved as fast as his exhausted body could carry him. It wasn't fast, mind you, but he felt a small sense of pride at the speed he was going considering the circumstances.

Of course, his breath was becoming more ragged by the second, and his ribs were kindly asking that he stop moving, and his injured leg had started bleeding again in protest. But he was moving, and that's what mattered. Beside him, Emily was walking in step with him, her hands clutching his right hand tightly. His left arm was folded against his chest protectively again.

"Mmmmmm, blood and adrenaline. My favorite combination," the Doctor didn't turn around at the sound of Jeffrey's voice behind them. Instead, he grabbed Emily's hand even tighter and hobbled forward at faster clip. His stomach dropped when he realized Jeffrey's too-perfect appearance revealed that he was toying with them. The plasmavores knew they'd get free, and they'd simply been waiting for the hunt.

"Hurry, Emily," he said, even as he knew that they had no chance escaping from two healthy plasmavores. "Quickly."

Jeffrey laughed behind them, and the Doctor willed himself to move forward. He wished he could just pick Emily up and run, but it just wasn't possible. "Run, run, run," the creature's voice was positively joyful.

And then, in the darkness, the Doctor felt something collide with him from behind, and he slammed into the stone wall of the tunnel so ferociously that he felt another rib give way beneath the pressure. His scream echoed down the tunnel, and a white, hot flash of agony exploded right underneath his left heart.

But the Doctor didn't pass out. He didn't fall. Jeffrey's obvious pleasure in playing games with his prey was the final straw. Jeffrey's laugh was close, and the Doctor, with a mighty roar, shoved himself away from the wall and spun around. It was still too dark to really tell where everyone was, and the Doctor's vision was going blurry from the pain, but he took an educated guess as to where Jeffrey was, pulled back his right arm, and punched the plasmavore right in the side of the face, as hard as he could manage. The creature shrieked as it spun, crashing to the floor.

Then, silence. The Doctor could only hear his ragged gasps and Emily's panting. Miriam had not accompanied Jeffrey. They were lucky.

Then, as if on cue, Jeffrey stirred, just the slightest, and the Doctor reached forward to grab Emily's hand. "Emily, run. Now."

They ran then, but Emily found herself having to pull the Doctor forward, and though she didn't speak as the Doctor coughed and stumbled, she knew he was in serious danger.

The Doctor didn't speak either. He didn't want to draw attention to the fact that his chest felt as if an elephant was sitting on it, and he didn't want to draw attention to the blood that his body was bringing up with every body-wracking cough that he fought to keep down.


	10. Chapter 10

_Hi guys! Here's another chapter for you all … sorry for the delay, once again._

_I'm not sure how many of you guys know about the crazy weather from the last week or so, but we had a pretty serious tornado outbreak. We were spared here in Pulaski County, Ky., thank goodness, but the same storm that passed over us spawned a tornado one county over and … it was bad. These tornadoes affected Indiana as well … the same area where my story is based. My two sisters and their families are located there and they barely escaped. It was a very scary situation. I am continuing the story because I know what it's like to be affected by these storms, and I have the utmost respect for these families affected. I'm thinking of all the victims. _

_Anyway, I don't own Doctor Who … of course. _

**Chapter 10**

Armed with the sonic screwdriver and three strapping men, Amy Pond arrived at the gaping hole near the Ohio River where everything had started. The four regarded the deep blackness of that hole for a few moments, and she couldn't help but reach a hand up to feel the small wound that the plasmavores had left when they'd fed off her. It felt like ages ago.

The group had left the TARDIS waiting patiently in Masonville — Amy had hoped no one would take notice of the bright blue box standing proudly among the ruins — and trekked through the fields to the river. John and Dennis, their eyes glazed over from mental overload, had wondered aloud why they couldn't take the TARDIS for a spin, but Amy's answer had quieted them. She'd told them that only the Doctor could really operate the TARDIS, and an attempt to move a mile outside the city could land them anywhere and anytime.

Now, after a 20 minute, brisk walk, they considered their options.

"They're down there?" John asked, as he gulped.

Amy nodded. "They have to be. It's where those things live."

Beside her, Rory shivered. "I am not looking forward to going back down there."

"Yeah, but luckily, we've got the sonic screwdriver and torches this time around."

But unfortunately, they didn't have the Doctor, who was possibly the best weapon anyone could have. A very small part of Amy wondered if she would see her best friend again. But she brushed the worry aside almost as soon as the thought flashed through her tired mind. He was the Doctor. He always found his way back to them.

John pulled a face as he looked at his torch. "Torch? Don't you mean a flashlight?"

Amy didn't look at him as she kneeled down and shined a beam of light down into the darkness. The light was strong, and it reached all the way to the dirt floor. She could still see her and Rory's footprints from their earlier foray into the caverns.

"We call it a torch," Rory said.

"Huh," John answered. But he remained silent. They had far more serious things to worry about than what to call a torch — or a flashlight.

"Well, we have to jump, I guess," Amy said as she looked behind her and upward to the three men. "It's not too far of a drop."

With that, she lowered herself over the lip of the hole and fell the remaining several feet to the floor. Her ankles and feet sent pinpricks of pain up her legs at the landing, but nothing more. The others followed quickly after that. Two tunnels stared at them, their entrances wide and dark.

"Well," she said. "Any ideas boys?"

"I don't think we have much choice except to just pick one," Rory said. "Surely they all end up at the same place."

Amy nodded. "I think you're right."

A sudden, pain-filled scream echoed from the tunnel furthest to the right, and Amy's heart nearly stopped. "Oh God. That sounded like the Doctor."

Rory rushed forward then, taking the lead, and she followed her husband as he sprinted into the darkness, his torch held at the ready to light the way. She heard Dennis and John behind her keeping up admirably, considering the Doctor's companions developed superior running skills due to always being in danger. The group hit several twists and turns, but they didn't slow until the tunnel forked before them. She could hear what sounded like running, but the sound seemed to float from both tunnels. She couldn't figure out which one to enter.

"Which one?" John asked.

She was at a loss. The sounds were beginning to fade, and Amy feared that the Doctor and Emily were moving deeper into the tunnels. "I don't know."

"We have to split up," Dennis said.

"No. No way," Rory said. "We're vulnerable if we split up. There's no telling where those things are."

Dennis frowned. "We have to. My little girl could be in either tunnel, and we're just wasting time standing here debating this."

Amy started to reply, but she realized he was right. "Okay. I'll go with you. Rory, you go with John."

"No, I can't leave John," Dennis answered.

"Dad, I'll be okay," the teenager said. The father regarded his son for a moment, then enveloped him in a hug. John's face suggested to Amy that Dennis wasn't one to dish out hugs that often.

She could see Rory's face, and she tried to smile. She didn't like splitting up from her husband either, but she knew the two farmers wouldn't stand a chance if they came up against a plasmavore. At least Amy and Rory had survived the first two run-ins with them. "Rory, it's okay. I'll be fine."

With that, she turned to Dennis. "We'll take the right one. You guys take the left. Try to keep up with where you're going, and we'll meet back here once we get Emily and the Doctor."

"It's too bad there aren't any cell towers built yet," she said. "We could sure use some cell phones."

"Huh?" John asked.

"Never mind," she responded, as she and Dennis moved toward the right tunnel. "Let's go. And don't get killed."

"Rory, take care of him," Dennis said.

The nurse nodded, then turned to Amy. "Come back alive."

"Always do."

Rory watched as the beam of light from his torch bounced with each step he took through the tunnel. He and John had taken to a quick jogging pace through the tunnel, and neither spoke as they moved. Rory strained to hear any sound ahead of them, but his own loud breathing and their footsteps effectively drowned out any possible evidence that they were going in the right direction.

They came to a sharp turn in the tunnel, and Rory slowed just enough to avoid slamming into the wall. It was then that he looked down, and his light caught the spots of dark blood. "John, wait."

The teenager backtracked and stood beside him. Rory leaned down to get a better look at the substance. An image of the Doctor sticking his finger in everything and either smelling or tasting it flashed through his mind, and he couldn't help but grimace. He'd told him time and time again that there was no way to know where everything had been.

"Is it Emily's you think?" John asked, his voice tense.

Rory could only shrug. "I don't know. You said the Doctor was injured badly?"

"Yeah, but he wasn't bleeding as much when we brought him into town."

Rory stood up. "Well, either way, someone's been here. We need to keep going this way."

The two began to jog again, heading deeper and deeper into the maze of underground caverns and tunnels that wound their way beneath the rolling fields of Indiana.

••••••••••

"Do you, ah, do you need me to go ahead?"

Dennis' question was not harsh. And Amy was unsurprised by it. She had found herself in 1974, after all.

But it aggravated her, nonetheless. "I think I've got it, thanks."

She swung her flashlight around to Dennis' face, and he squinted in the sudden glare. "I just thought that maybe ...," He saw her face, and he looked at the ground. "I didn't mean anything by it."

She smiled. "I know. But I can handle it, really. If you knew some of the things we've come across with the Doctor ..."

"You mean you've seen crazier things than these ... plasmavore things? Or that time-traveling box?"

"The box is a she, actually," Amy said. Dennis and John had accepted the fact that the TARDIS was much, much larger than it appeared, and their brief explanation of just what it did had been met with no more than a few nods and "huh"s. Apparently, they'd already had their fill of the unexplained through their run-in with Jeffrey, Miriam and the Doctor. Their eyes had long before been glazed over with a sort of mental shock.

"Oh," Dennis said, though he didn't sound convinced. Then, he chuckled drily. "If you were about 20 years older, you'd be a spitting image of my wife. Well she didn't have red hair, but she acted a lot like you. I always told her she was born about 25 years too early."

Amy slowed her walk and turned to the farmer. Dennis' wife sounded like her kind of woman. "How did you meet?"

Dennis sucked in a breath, and Amy wondered if she'd stepped over the line, but her fears were quelled when he began to speak. "Oh, we always knew each other. The blessing and curse of a small town. We weren't too close ... her parents lived in town while my family lived on the homestead. I guess I'd always noticed her. She was so pretty. You should've seen her. That long, brown hair. Always so curly."

Amy shone her torch ahead of them as she listened.

Dennis continued. "We started dating in high school ... but I wasn't the one to ask. I was too afraid, I guess. She marched right up to me one day and said she wouldn't mind a date."

Amy smiled. Yep, this woman was right on her level.

"I said yes, of course, and we never looked back," Dennis said. "I still can't believe it, even today. She was so pretty and kind ... and independent. I think that's what I loved about her the most. She was so strong-willed."

Dennis paused. "Of course, that meant when we had our arguments, we had it out. I think we're both about as stubborn as mules. I worry sometimes that John and Emily will be as stubborn as their old folks."

Dennis' voice faded, and Amy knew he was lost to another world, his memories of his wife swirling in his head. "How - how did she die, Dennis?"

The man's voice cracked. "Cancer. She died of cancer."

Amy's heart broke for him. It was 1974. Cancer was nearly a death sentence in these times, no matter the kind. If Dennis and his family had been around in 2010 ... things may have been different.

"I'm - I'm sorry," she said.

"She was so frail, and so gray, when she died," he said. "Her hair had fallen out, and she was so sick all the time ... but my God, that woman was still gorgeous to me. That smile could light a firecracker."

Amy brushed away a stray tear.

"I loved that woman more than life itself," Dennis' voice was hushed now. "I dare say I would've followed her if not for our children. I see her in them every moment. I'm so thankful for that."

Dennis stopped, and then he sighed. "I'm sorry, Miss Amy. I didn't mean to unload on you. I don't have many chances to talk, you see."

He cleared his throat, and the moment was gone. Amy knew he'd retreated back into his shell.

"Keep going this way?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's — ," as she turned, her beam met the visage of Miriam.

Amy shrieked and nearly dropped her torch. The creature bared her teeth with a growl, and lunged at Amy without further ado. Amy fell backward with the weight of the plasmavore, and she hissed as she hit the ground hard.

"I'll feed on you tonight, girl," Miriam said as she snapped her teeth hungrily. "Your blood was so delicious the first time around. You've had time to replenish, I'm sure."

"Oi! Don't touch me!" She bit back as she struggled to wriggle free from Miriam's grip. She heard Dennis move around them, and with a grunt, the man had pulled Miriam off of the Scot with a heave. Spittle flew from Miriam's mouth as she was thrown backward.

Amy was on her feet in a flash. "Dennis, look out!"

The farmer met Miriam's claws with his own hands, and the two struggled mightily as Miriam tried to overtake him. "I'll have you first, male."

Amy grabbed for the sonic, and she shone her torch to the settings as the two continued to fight for dominance. "Come on, come on," she said as she studied the various buttons and switches on the instrument. She'd become adept at the basic settings of the sonic, and she had a feeling there was one that would be of some use. "Ah, there we go."

With a flourish, she held the screwdriver up high and switched the noise setting to the maximum. The sonic released a high pitched, screeching tone that caused her to grimace. The noise was slaughtering  
>her ear drums, but she didn't waver. In front of her, Dennis and Miriam parted, and the farmer covered his ears as he stumbled away from the creature. Miriam screamed, her hands clamped over her ears. It appeared as if the noise was affecting the plasmavore much more than the two humans, which Amy was depending on.<p>

She turned the setting up a notch, and the plasmavore's scream became even more desperate. Dennis' torch shone on the creature, and Amy sucked in a breath when she saw the blood seeping out between the thing's long, clawed fingers. She could kill her. She could do it so easily. Amy could just ... not turn the sonic off, and the world would be rid of a nasty, heartless creature.

Amy's head and heart fought as Miriam slid to the floor of the tunnel, her screams beginning to weaken and die in her throat. Amy's hands shook, and she couldn't bring herself to turn the sonic off as she thought about the countless people they'd fed off of in such a short time. These things were no more than bloodthirsty animals. If they were left alive, then they'd do more damage if they weren't captured.

"Keep going!" Dennis said, yelling to be heard over the sound. "Just a few more seconds!"

Amy saw his face then. His eyes were wide and glazed with the possibility of Miriam's death, and his mouth was fixed into a strange, satisfied smirk as he watched Miriam writhe below him. Dennis was loving her pain. Every second of it.

Amy switched the sonic off. The creature slumped over, unconscious.

"Why did you stop?" Dennis asked, mystified. "It's not dead."

Amy nodded. "I know. I can't do it."

"But-but why?" The man was truly at a loss for words.

"The Doctor has taught us lots of things during our time with him," Amy answered. "One of them is to take every possible avenue before killing another creature."

"But that thing isn't anything but a killer," Dennis sputtered, his eyes confused and angry. "She may have already killed your Doctor and Emily! She shouldn't live."

Amy watched for any signs of movement from the plasmavore. "I can't do it," she answered. Then, she turned to watch him, her emerald eyes shining in the glare of his torch. "But believe me, I want to."

Amy kneeled down and tentatively reached a finger out to touch one of Miriam's pale arms. The creature didn't even stir. "That'll put her out of commission for a while. We have to go."

Dennis' mouth was agape, and she could feel his disbelief as he took to following her. But the blood thirst was fading, and it was being replaced by dark anger. "If that thing comes back and hurts my son or daughter, then it's on you," he said.

Amy didn't turn to look at him. "I'll take that chance."

"Emily, please ... stop," the Doctor gasped. The little girl slowed, and watched him with wide blue eyes. The Doctor nearly fell face-first into the nearest wall of the cavern, and his arms shook tremendously as he braced himself against a small ledge of outlying rock. He fought to keep his body upright.

"What's wrong Mister Doctor?"

The Doctor turned his head and coughed. The action shook his body from head to toe, and as he pulled away, he saw the blood on his coat sleeve in the low light. He had to get to the TARDIS, and soon. The problem was, he'd realized during their flight from Jeffrey that they'd moved deeper into the tunnels and not toward the surface.

"Just ... just need a rest," he tried to smile at her, but he could only grimace. "No worries, Emily. I'm perfectly okay. I'm the King of Okay, I always say. Just a moment ...,"

Then, his head shot up, and he ignored his swimming vision as his face broke out into a wide smile. "Emily, my girl, do you hear that?"

She listened for a moment, then shook her head.

"Ah, well, not to worry. Human senses aren't much to shake a stick at, I'm afraid. It's just the slightest ... There!"

It was his sonic!

The Doctor frowned. Someone had turned it to its highest setting, and he didn't envy whatever was at the other end of it. He could only assume it to be Miriam, as Jeffrey had most certainly given chase after the Doctor and Emily.

Just then, the Doctor thought he heard the faintest growl, and he spun to face the little girl, rejuvenated by the apparent arrival of Amy and Rory. "Come along, Emily! We must run. Can you do it?"

She only nodded, and he grabbed her hand again with his right hand, and they moved further away from the approaching plasmavore. The Doctor couldn't help but cough again as they turned a corner. Even if they'd tried to hide, it would've been useless. The plasmavores would be able to track them for miles. Their only hope was to keep running.

"I can hear you, and I can smell you, Doctor," Jeffrey's voice echoed at them as they moved. The Doctor had long lost sense of where he was going. He didn't care, though. He just wanted to keep Emily safe. Perhaps he'd run into Amy and Rory eventually ...

"Keep running, Doctor," Jeffrey continued, as the Doctor's breathing became labored. Blimey, he was having trouble breathing! "Though don't run too far. It smells like you may not have any blood left by the time I get to you."

The Doctor felt Emily's eyes staring at him as they moved. She was terrified.

"I'm coming for you ...," Jeffrey's voice was closer. He was toying with them again. The Doctor led Emily around another corner, but his boot caught on something, and he went down, unable to catch himself.

"Mister Doctor!"

"Emily," he looked up at her as she clutched at his outstretched hand. "Run. You have to leave me."

She shook her head.

"Emily, please. I can try to stop him. You HAVE to run."

But Jeffrey was there before she'd even begun to turn. Emily screamed and flattened herself against the wall of the tunnel as Jeffrey pounced, and he turned the Doctor over onto his back triumphantly. The Doctor's body flopped like a ragdoll on the hard stone, and he found himself staring into the eyes of the plasmavore.

"I don't suppose you've a straw with you to make this a smidge less messy?" the Doctor asked, his voice weak. He felt very nearly resigned to the fact that he was about to die, and the only regret he truly had was not being able to protect Emily.

Jeffrey, enamored by the smell of the Time Lord's blood, only hissed animalistically.

"I guess that means no," he answered.

The Doctor closed his eyes tightly, not wishing to see the plasmavore ripping into him, but a sudden yell made him crack open an eye hopefully.

"Hey!"

_Rory?_

Jeffrey turned, but not quickly enough. Rory's torch came down with a crack against the plasmavore's head, and Jeffrey slumped to the ground beside the Doctor, completely out.

"Rory the Roman," the Doctor croaked, in the ensuing silence. "Am I glad to see you."

Rory was beside him in an instant. "Good God, Doctor. What's happened to you?"

"Oh, you know, tangled with a twister, and all that," the Doctor's eyes began to drift closed as he talked, his words slurred and soft. He could sleep now, since Rory and Amy were here.

"No! Doctor, stay awake!"

He clawed for purchase in the blackness that had crept into his mind. "Isss okay ... I'm up."

But he really wasn't. The Doctor's body completely gave out then, and he retreated into sublime unconsciousness gladly.


	11. Chapter 11

_I want to sincerely apologize for the ridiculous delay in updating. Summer classes and work … are no excuse. I'm sorry. I decided to log in for the first time in over a month and was reminded of how kind you guys have been in reviewing, which inspired me to get back into the writing mood. I cannot guarantee a regular updating schedule, but with classes over until August I will do my best. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I have another on the way. Thanks for your patience.  
><em>

**CHAPTER 11**

Amy heard the screaming before she'd rounded the corner. The voice was most definitely her husband's, and his voice had taken on a desperate pitch. She knew they'd found the Doctor.

When she and Dennis came upon the others, her heart leaped into her throat for what felt like the umpteenth time that long, tragic day. The Doctor's inert form was immediately recognizable, his bow tie askew and his usually impeccable trousers and tweed jacket torn in multiple places. It was dark, but Amy didn't need a torch to know his blood stained his clothes.

Rory was leaning over the Doctor, trying desperately to bring their friend back. He wasn't stirring.

But Jeffrey was. The plasmavore began to twitch and growl as he came round, and Amy yelled a warning to Rory before the creature was on its feet and lunging at Rory. The two hit the stone floor with a thud, and they struggled to overpower the other even as John and Dennis moved to help.

"Daddy!"

Dennis turned his head from the ensuing struggle, and he fell to his knees. "Emily! Oh thank God! You're alright."

The young girl ran into his arms, her eyes overflowing with tears of relief. Her father was there to save the day. "Help him, Daddy! Help Mister Doctor!"

Dennis turned to Amy. She didn't know what to do. Rory and John were both struggling mightily to subdue Jeffrey, but they were tiring quickly. They needed help.

But just beyond them lay the Doctor, unmoving.

"Doctor, wake up, please!" Amy asked as she moved toward her husband.

"No, Amy! Stay-stay back!" Rory pleaded, before Jeffrey bucked against his grip, slamming him into the stone wall. He connected with a smack and a load groan. John had fallen to the ground, dazed from being attacked by Jeffrey in the creature's attempt to get free of the two men.

Amy halted. "You need help, moron."

"Yeah, perhaps," Rory breathed as he grabbed at Jeffrey's claws. "You're - you're an annoying little bastard, aren't you?" he asked the alien.

Jeffrey hissed in reply.

Amy didn't even realize Dennis was beside her until she heard the click of a gun. She looked down to see he held a revolver in his right hand - which was clenched so tightly around the weapon that it visibly shook.

"Dennis, what are you doing?" she asked, her voice low.

He didn't answer her. "John, son, come this way."

He lifted the revolver up and took aim. At Rory and Jeffrey, who were still fighting one another.

"Are you loony?" Amy squeaked, suddenly very, very worried for her husband's safety. "You'll hit Rory!"

Dennis was visibly sweating, and he blinked as the perspiration rolled into his eyes. "Marksman champion at the county fair now for five years in a row."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" she groused. "Dennis, no. Not like this."

Amy heard Rory grunt as he collided with the stone wall again, but she didn't tear her gaze off of Dennis and his gun. John, unsure of what to do, backed away from Rory and Jeffrey until he was flat against the wall and behind the aim of his father's gun.

And still, the Doctor did not stir.

Dennis frowned at Amy. "That thing nearly killed your friend and he took Emily."

Amy shook her head, but she said nothing. She didn't have the words to refute what the man had just stated. He was right. Jeffrey had taken Emily and the Doctor, and he'd worsened the Doctor's already significant injuries.

But still ...

She heard him click the safety off of the gun. The chamber was loaded and Rory was in Dennis' line of sight.

"No!" she lunged at Dennis, grabbing for the black, shiny revolver that glinted in the dim light given off from a torch that'd tumbled to the floor of the tunnel and had come to a rest angled upward and toward the group.

_God, what am I doing?_Amy thought as she moved. At nearly the exact same moment, she heard Rory yell her name.

"Amy, what in God's name are you doing?"

She didn't answer, and she tightened her hold around the cool metal of the gun. Dennis grunted as he fought to keep control of the weapon, but he didn't move to strike her. Amy had been hoping his old-fashioned, gentlemanly habits would prevent him from doing so.

"Let go!" he barked, as he pulled away from her. She pulled too, and they stayed locked like that for a few precious seconds, although her arms were trembling from the effort of overpowering a man who outweighed her by at least 100 pounds.

"Dad, stop it!" John yelled.

The sounds of Rory and Jeffrey's struggle continued.

"Doctor!" Amy screamed as she fought to gain control of the gun. "Help us!"

And yet, the Doctor did not so much as twitch.

They were deadlocked.

••••••••••

The Doctor struggled to swim through the thick darkness that was his consciousness. The physical pain was nearly overwhelming, and though he could not see, he could hear the sounds of a struggle above him. It felt as if the sounds were passing through a barrier, making them sound muffled and barely recognizable, but he would be able to pick Amy's voice — and her scream — out of a din of noises.

His eyelids felt as if they were made of lead as he began to come to, and he nearly gave up the fight when the wave of pain coming at him from what seemed like all parts of his body assaulted his senses. It would just be so much easier to go back to sleep ...

"Doctor, wake up, please!"

Amy again.

He clawed his way to the front of his mind, until the sounds became more clear and the pain became more real. He was making it back to reality, albeit slowly. As he struggled to remain conscious, he tried to move his good arm, or a leg, and found he couldn't. His mind was trying to cooperate, but his body was ignoring his every request.

_Well this is quite inconvenient_, he thought muzzily.

He was basically a prisoner. His body, exhausted, had completely shut down, and the overwhelming urge to sleep let the Doctor know it was trying to enter into a healing coma. He fought it, though. He wasn't ready yet. There were still things to be done.

But even as he fought, he felt himself slipping further and further back, until the realization he'd gained of his physical body — and the cold stone floor it lay on, and the intense pain — and the sounds above and around him began to fade again.

_No, no, no!_ he thought, still waging the battle against unconsciousness. _Not yet!_

"Dennis, no. Not like this." Amy's voice sound tiny, as if it were echoing down a long tunnel. The Doctor knew that it was physically impossible that she be more than a few feet from his prone body.

_Not like what?_ he thought in the blackness.

"Doctor! Help us!"

His hearing was beginning to go, and he knew it would take an immense effort to bring himself back from the brink of the healing sleep. The buzzing in his ears overlapped the screams and shouts. They were getting farther and farther away.

And then, what sounded like an explosion, and then Amy's high-pitched scream sliced through the buzzing, bringing the Doctor back to awareness inside the prison of his exhausted mind. His Ponds needed him.

_A gun?_ he wondered, as he struggled, tooth and nail, to gain back control of his body. The Doctor hated guns. All they did was breed bad things.

••••••••••

Amy screamed at nearly the exact moment the gun, which was being gripped by both she and Dennis, barked once, and she let go and stumbled backwards as the sound exploded in the tunnel and echoed around them. Amy screamed for Rory as he ducked, and she could hear the bullet, which had exited the gun's barrel at an upward angle, collide with the ceiling of the tunnel, then the side.

It was ricocheting, and everyone, Jeffrey included, hit the ground as sparks flew.

It seemed like an eternity before the echoes of metal colliding with stone stopped, but Amy knew it was barely half a second.

It was silent. Amy's vision found her husband first and, although he looked roughed up, he was not adorned with any bullet wounds. She nearly sagged with relief.

Then she heard a sharp intake of breath, and she turned to John, who'd squeezed himself up against the side of the tunnel. His young eyes were wide and terrified as he stared down at the bullet wound in his side, and his legs gave out beneath him suddenly. He slid downward until he sat on the floor of the tunnel, his back against the wall.

Dennis' voice cracked. "John?"

The young man was already pale. Within an instant, Rory was with him, Jeffrey forgotten.

Amy was frozen. The Doctor was still unconscious, and she had never felt so lost about what to do in her life.

Jeffrey growled and launched himself at Amy, and she could do nothing but squeeze her eyes shut as he moved almost faster than she could see. This was it. She was going to die in a dank, dark tunnel under America in 1974.

The gun barked again, and she jerked. Jeffrey did not overtake her, as she thought he would. She hesitantly opened an eye to see the creature standing in front of her, his fanged mouth gaping open in shock. A circle of blood had begun to spread right over his heart — or where his heart would be if his anatomy were similar to a human's — and with a low, keening moan, he dropped to the ground and lay still.

Amy looked to Dennis then, assuming he'd drop his gun and run to his young son as any father should.

But he was as frozen as a statue, and his gun swung to take aim at Amy.

••••••••••

Rory had turned back to caring for John as soon as he'd seen Jeffrey collapse, assuming that they'd be safe. The sudden silence — save for John's ragged breaths as he struggled with the pain — was almost deafening.

Then, Amy's voice.

"Dennis, what are you doing?"

Rory made sure to keep his hand to John's wound as he turned, and his heart nearly began beating out of his chest when he took in the scene before him. Dennis' eyes were as wide as saucers, and blazing with a sudden rage that shook Rory to his toes.

"What have you done?" Dennis asked, his teeth clenched.

Amy shook her head, terrified. Dennis, facing the possible death of his son if they didn't get medical help fast, had come unhinged. And Amy was the first person within his sight.

"Dennis, listen to me," she said, as she swallowed. "You don't want to do this. It was an accident. The tunnel —,"

"I would've hit that monster if you'd just let me!" Dennis yelled.

Amy's eyes flicked to Rory. He could see her fear plainly in her features. "My husband was in front of your gun, Dennis. I couldn't let you do that."

"Dennis, we don't have time for this," Rory said. "We need to get John to a hospital now."

It was as if the man hadn't heard the nurse. His eyes remained fixed on Amy.

"Daddy?" Emily asked, and Rory, startled, turned to the little girl. He'd forgotten she'd even been with them, she'd been so quiet.

Dennis didn't turn to her, but he swallowed and licked his dry lips. "What sweetie?"

"Please don't hurt the pretty lady," Emily said. "Please?"

Dennis seemed to hesitate, and, after a few long, silent moments, the gun dropped to his side. Rory let out a breath he didn't realize he'd even been holding. But Dennis didn't turn to his daughter or son. Instead, he turned around and began walking away from them, from where they'd come from.

"Where —," Amy's voice betrayed her, and she paused as she tried to gather her strength back up. "Where are you going?"

He didn't answer.

"We can't worry about him now," Rory said as he turned back to John. "We've got to get John and the Doctor out of here."

John's eyes had gone a bit fuzzy, and he watched Rory dazedly as Rory spoke. "John, stay with me, okay? You're going to be fine if we can just stop the bleeding and get you to a hospital. I don't — I don't think the bullet hit any organs."

"How are we going to get out of here?" Amy asked quietly.

Almost on cue Rory heard the Doctor moan behind him.

"My Ponds," muttered the Doctor, his voice ragged with pain.

The Time Lord was waking up.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

"Amy, go to him," Rory, obviously in the nurse zone, ordered as he pushed down further on John's wound.

She was beside their best friend in an instant. "Doctor? Doctor, wake up."

As she watched, the Time Lord's eyes fluttered opened, and his green orbs - those eyes that held the depths of wisdom and tragedy that the oldest man in the universe had seen - found Amy's own eyes. The bleariness in his eyes scared her. He could barely focus on her, which was something alien to his companion, who was used to seeing her Doctor take in everything with a quick smile and a witty remark.

"Amelia," he breathed, grimacing. "You're - you're alive."

She nodded. "We're okay, Doctor, but you have to tell us what to do."

The Doctor moaned as he struggled to rise, and Amy moved to help him by placing a hand gently on his uninjured arm. He blinked and shook his head weakly, then tried to refocus on Amy. "Why, Amelia. There are two of you. When did this happen? And what must Mr. Pond think?"

Amy frowned. "Rory, he needs help."

"Ah, occupied at the moment with a gunshot victim," Rory answered back shortly. "For God's sake, where did Dennis - ?"

Rory's snappish question was halted by the sound of a gunshot that echoed back to them from the tunnels they'd come from. Emily screamed, startled, and Amy couldn't help but gasp at the noise, a deafening explosion that cut the silence of the tunnels as it echoed all around them.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed as he stumbled to a standing position, only to lean heavily against the tunnel wall. "Guns," he spat, suddenly well enough to express his distaste. Then, he looked around, taking stock of everyone. "Where's Dennis? And what's happened to young John?"

John didn't answer, but his brown eyes found Rory as the nurse filled the Doctor in on the day's most recent events. "John's been shot. I don't think it's hit anything vital, but he needs a hospital, and quickly."

Rory drew in a breath. "Dennis ... Dennis went that way. I don't know what's happened."

"And Dennis had the gun, I assume," the Doctor said, biting back a groan as he fought to stay upright. Amy's arm tightened around his own. "Blimey, I need to sleep."

Emily was crying quietly, her eyes staring, unseeingly, at Jeffrey's body, which hadn't moved from where it'd fallen. "What happened to Daddy?" she asked.

No one answered.

"We have to get out of here," the Doctor said quietly, as he studied the bloody hole on Jeffrey's chest where the bullet had entered. He was badly injured, and exhausted, but that didn't temper the disappointment running through his veins at the path Dennis had decided to embark on. "Amelia, help me. Rory, you'll have to help John. The sooner we get to the TARDIS, the quicker we can get him help."

He knew his words didn't sound nearly as authoritative as they would've if he'd been healthier. But they moved to follow his instructions anyway.

Amy placed the Doctor's good arm over her shoulders. It wasn't the most comfortable fit, since Amy was only inches shorter than the Doctor, but the Time Lord nevertheless made do and found himself leaning heavily against his friend as he attempted to move.

John' groans nearly rivaled the Doctor's own as the four - with Emily in tow - began to make their way slowly, ever so slowly, toward the entrance to the tunnel network.

"But, but Daddy ... ," Emily whimpered as they walked. "Where is Daddy?"

The Doctor didn't answer again, but instead focused his blurry vision on the ground in front of him, willing himself to move forward. His right leg was completely numb, and he surmised that infection had set up at the site of the entry wound, where the metal still shone dully back at him. Every step was agony, and every breath was agony. He was in a tight spot, that much he knew.

Beside him, Amy sucked in a breath. "We're – we're not sure, sweetie," she answered, and the Doctor, in his nearly delirious state, was suddenly struck with an image of River Song, the gun-toting archeologist who both intrigued him and scared the hell out of him.

"Sweetie," he breathed as they moved. "You sound like her."

He could almost reach out and touch River's honey-colored curls, she was so close. It was so strange, because her feet didn't seem to move, yet she stayed just out of reach of the Doctor as they walked forward, her lips curved into a naughty smirk as her eyes locked with his. Those eyes stirred something deep within him. He knew Dr. Song meant much more to him than he knew at the moment. But she knew.

"Saucy girl," he mumbled, and he couldn't help but smile at River's image.

Amy shot the Doctor a puzzled look, then felt his forehead. He sighed in pleasure when her cool hands met his clammy skin. "You're burning up, Doctor."

River's visage shimmered away, leaving only an empty tunnel before him.

"Hmmm ... ," he only said, wishing that she'd put one of those pale, ginger hands on his head again. Now that she mentioned it, he was feeling awfully warm.

A sound before them caused Amy to slow beside him, and the Doctor groaned as he wavered on his feet. He felt Amy's hand tighten on his arm. Out of the darkness came Dennis, who appeared exhausted but none the worse for wear. Or at least, the Doctor thought it was Dennis. The fellow before him was quite fuzzy.

"Daddy!" Emily ran to her father without hesitation, and the farmer picked his daughter up silently in a bear hug. "How is he?" he asked Rory, his eyes brimming with fear for his son.

"Alive," Rory answered, shortly, not happy with the farmer at all.

"Dad," John said, quietly. "I didn't know what happened to you."

Before Dennis could respond, the Doctor mumbled. "I do. Miriam is dead."

Dennis nodded. "Those things needed to be killed."

The Doctor sighed, and he was surprised when it came out as a wheeze. "And you're the judge, jury and the executioner, all in one, I suppose."

The Doctor's eyes found John. "I don't know what happened to your son exactly … unconscious and all that … but I could venture a guess about who's gun the bullet came from."

Beside him, Amy tensed. "Ahhh …. By the posture of Amelia, I'm guessing the noises I heard while coming to were indicative of a sort of stand-off between the two of you."

Dennis's eyes flashed, but he didn't say anything. Instead he moved to Rory and gestured for the nurse to hand over his son. "I can carry him."

Rory nodded. "John, keep a hand over your wound. Hold it there tightly, even if it hurts."

The Doctor wasn't finished. He continued to talk as Dennis scooped his son into his arms.

"I'm sorry that your son had to be at the receiving end of that horrid gun," the alien said, as he gripped weakly to Amy's arm. "But if you had injured either of my friends …"

The Doctor didn't have the energy to finish, but he saw he didn't need to by the way Dennis turned, without another word, to lead the rag-tag group back to the opening of the cave.

Rory took Amy's position beside the Doctor, and Amy, unsure of what to do since the Doctor's other arm was injured, turned and scooped Emily up, who had been moving slower and slower. The young girl was obviously dead on her feet.

"Those creatures know nothing besides feeding, Dennis," the Doctor muttered as they moved. "You had no authority to dispatch them like that."

Dennis didn't turn around. "They nearly killed my kids. I don't care what they know. I'd do it again too."

The Doctor started to reply, but his lungs seized suddenly, and he began to cough violently. Rory stopped and leaned down with him as he doubled over in an effort to halt the spasms wracking his body. The Doctor could taste his blood, and he knew Rory heard the rattling in his chest.

"Doctor?" Amy asked.

He just shook his head as he struggled to catch his breath.

"You've punctured a lung," Rory said, very matter-of-factly.

The Doctor just nodded as he fought mightily for oxygen.

"Everyone, we have to move," Rory commanded, as he felt the Doctor's weight settle more against his own body. The Time Lord was weakening. "And fast."

The Doctor stumbled forward and would've fallen if not for Rory's assistance. "Rory," the Doctor gasped.

"We have ... to get to the TARDIS ...,"

The Doctor coughed again. "Quickly."

The nurse nodded, his eyes still facing forward to follow Dennis' progression. "I know, Doctor."

But they didn't know! The Doctor wished he could just explain … but no breath, or energy, came to him.

The Doctor shook his head, then grimaced when his vision became even more fuzzy. He was finding it very difficult to see and was grateful for Rory's guidance. "No ... the plasmavores are dead."

He grabbed at Rory with his good arm, and his friend paused, just for a moment, to study the Doctor.

"The Judoon ... they'll be here shortly. They'll register this as a crime. They'll look for the perpetrator."

"Well, then the sooner we're in the TARDIS, the better," Amy answered, Emily still cradled in her arms.

The Doctor nodded, and fought to raise his head to look at Rory beside him.

But he couldn't do it. So he kept his eyes trained on the ground in front of him. "And Ponds ...," he stopped for a moment to catch his breath. "The ... the atmosphere. The pressure has dropped again. The storms ... I don't think they're over."

Ahead of them, Dennis drew in a sharp breath. "Good God almighty."

The Time Lord lost all feeling in his body then. "Oh dear," he said, before his eyes slammed shut on their own and he felt his legs buckle just as Rory's hands were on him in an attempt to keep him upright.

_Sorry, Ponds_, he thought as he faded, once again, into unconsciousness. _You're on your own for a bit_.

Although his worry for the Doctor was still very much alive and biting at his thoughts from all sides, Rory couldn't help but feel slightly relieved when the Time Lord collapsed. At least he was free of pain for the time being. Without a second thought, Rory wrapped his arms around the Doctor's torso to keep the alien from hitting the ground again.

Amy placed Emily gently onto the ground and took her position at the Doctor's feet, and within seconds the two had a sort of rhythm going as they carried their best friend forward and at a much faster clip than they could've managed with a conscious alien.

The bedraggled group reached the opening to the cavern, and although the night sky above them was still black, Amy could sense the electrical pulses in the air. Almost as if to confirm her worries, a rumble of thunder reached her ears.

The redhead gently lowered the Doctor's feet to the ground, and she watched as Rory took the same care in lowering the rest of the Time Lord's body.

"Dennis, give me a lift," Rory said.

What seemed to be an eternity later, the group had managed to drag themselves out of the cavern ... and Rory and Dennis' muscles were strained from the effort of hauling an unconscious Time Lord through the opening into the dreary tunnels.

Waiting for them, fortunately, was the TARDIS. Amy could practically feel her humming in concern for the Doctor. If she were a woman, Amy would guess she'd be fluttering and fretting around the Doctor, in a panic. Amy understood. Her feelings had been bordering on panic for hours how. That panic increased a notch as she stared up into the darkened, angry skies above them. The hairs on her arms were standing on end, and threw a worried glance at her husband, who was panting from the effort of carrying the Doctor from the caverns.

"We have to ... get him to a hospital," Rory said, trying to breath as he spoke.

She nodded. They had two injured comrades to worry about. John's face was deathly pale, and he was biting his lip so hard that she could see a bit of blood mixing with the sweat - no doubt a cold, clammy one due to his injury and blood loss.

"How far to the nearest hospital?" she asked Dennis, who had picked John back up after their ascent.

He frowned. "Madisonville Medical Center is only 10 or so miles away, but I don't know if they're even operational right now."

Amy had worried he would say that. She stared down at the Doctor. He didn't even move as the breeze - stronger now - ruffled his thick, dark hair. He was bloody, pale (even for him), and he appeared more thin than usual in his tattered clothing. With a pang that stabbed her heart so sharply she almost gasped, she wished he could wake up and just tell them what to do.

The sound of the massive space ship landing in the field next to them helped Amy make her decision.

The Judoon ship dwarfed the TARDIS, and Amy couldn't help but gulp as she took in the metallic saucer and its bright lights as it whirred above them, preparing for a landing. They were here to find out who had killed the Plasamavores.

Dennis wouldn't stand a chance.

"Into the TARDIS, now," she instructed.

The boys didn't hesitate.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

Rory picked up the Doctor's feet and Amy grabbed the alien under his arms, both ready to get as far away as the Judoon ship as possible. Emily began to cry again as she stared, wide-eyed, at the massive space ship. Amy wondered if the poor girl would ever quite be the same after the events of the day.

The TARDIS allowed them entry automatically, and Amy and Rory motioned for Dennis to follow them into the med bay with John. Amy let Rory lead the way, trusting that the TARDIS would make their destination easily accessible. They rounded the first corner and found the door into the white, disinfected room. Amy couldn't help but wrinkle her nose at the smell of it.

She and Rory heaved the sleeping Time Lord onto the first bed, while Dennis eased John down on a second bed. Emily stood in the doorway of the room, her eyes unblinking. The young girl's eyes were still filled with unshed tears, but her fear at seeing the Judoon ship had dissipated to be replaced with awe at the sheer size of the TARDIS.

Amy reckoned that the Doctor would be skipping around the little girl, eagerly anticipating the "it's bigger on the inside" reaction he always took so much pride in, if he were in better health.

"Rory, I don't know what to do," said Amy, looking between their two patients. John was human, and so much more fragile than a Time Lord, but the Doctor had been through hell and back. John was squirming, unable to stay still, he was in such pain, and Dennis did his best to calm his son, running a large, tanned hand over his son's blonde hair in a soothing motion. Amy read Dennis' face like an open book, and the farmer's eyes were filled with panic. He looked as if he'd give anything to have his wife there with him.

The Doctor, though, barely moved. Amy had to concentrate to see his chest rise and fall, and she thought she could hear a strange rattling sound coming from his chest with each slow breath he took. She didn't think she'd ever seen so much blood on the Doctor before.

She hoped she'd never have to see it again.

Rory had already started rummaging through the various drawers of the med bay, his eyes wild and unfocused. The exhaustion was getting to him, and Amy could feel his frustration as he searched for pain medicine for John.

"I don't — we have to get John to the nearest hospital," said Rory. "I'm sure I could do some good here, but I have no idea what is where, and I don't even know the types of instruments the Doctor uses for this stuff."

Without another word, Amy turned and fled to the console room, nearly knocking Emily down as she passed through the doorway. Once she arrived to the center of the TARDIS, she nearly broke down. All of the buttons and levers ... there was so much.

Amy tried to blink the tears away as she looked upward, toward the ceiling. "Please, old girl," she whispered. "Help us. We need the closest working hospital, for John."

The TARDIS hummed, and Amy could pick up a slight edge. The TARDIS wanted them to concentrate on the Doctor. "I know, I know. You're worried about him. I am too. But he would never forgive himself if John died while we were trying to help him, now would he?"

The TARDIS rumbled, but it seemed to be a sound of agreeance. Amy heard the tell-tale noise of a TARDIS in lift-off, and she clutched the TARDIS control panel as they took off. She thought she heard Emily yelp, startled, with the sudden change in motion.

And before she knew it, they had come to a stop. Amy wrenched open the door to see a medical center staring impressively back at her. The Indianapolis Medical Center had been the TARDIS' destination of choice.

With a quick "Thank you," Amy turned and all but sprinted to the med bay, where a pale John was nearly unconscious.

"Let's go," she said. "We've landed."

••••••••••

Emily stared from the emergency doors of the hospital as Amy and Rory gave her a quick wave from the blue box — the ship that didn't quite add up in dimension, if she was to compare the outside to the inside. Her Daddy and John had been whisked away into the nearest emergency room, and in all the chaos, they'd missed little Emily.

But she was fine. She was safe and her brother would be okay now. She was sure of it.

Emily now worried for the Doctor, the man who had kept her alive during their horrible time in the tunnels. She wondered if she would ever see the three people with the funny accents again. She hoped so.

As she watched, the blue box began to fade from her eyesight, and she thought she caught a quick look of surprise on Amy's face as she popped back into the box. Within seconds, the ship was gone, and Emily was alone.

She turned away from the doors, and decided to find her dad and brother.

••••••••••

"Rory, what are you doing?" Amy asked as she was thrown away from the door. The TARDIS was in flight mode again, but it seemed to be a much bumpier ride than the last one. In fact, the TARDIS seemed to be groaning as it flew, almost as if it were fighting against the flight.

Her husband clutched at a lever as they wobbled and weaved. "I didn't do anything!" he yelled, as the TARDIS' groans became nearly deafening.

"Then where are we going?" Amy shouted back, as she hung on for dear life.

And then, they landed with a massive thud, and the couple were thrown to the floor of the TARDIS. Amy groaned as she took stock of every bump and bruise she'd picked up in the trip.

"What in the bloody hell?" she asked.

Rory moved toward her, and his eyes suddenly darkened. "We didn't move through time when we flew to the hospital, did we?"

"I don't think so, why?"

"Oh dear," Rory breathed. "Oh crap."

Amy was at a loss. "Rory, what?"

"Do you think those Judoon things have the ability to target another ship if it's in the same time and pull it back to a location?"

"What? That's the most idiotic —," but she stopped. It did kind of make sense. Amy suddenly felt sick. "Oh God."

Rory just nodded, and then looked, very purposefully, toward the TARDIS doors. "What do we do? The Doctor is completely out."

Amy shrugged, then laughed weakly. "See who's at the door?"

She had a feeling they would be unable to bound away. However the Judoon had dragged them back, they no doubt knew how to keep them there.

"This ship has been registered as stolen to a Time Lord known as the Doctor," intoned a voice from outside. "Please vacate the ship. We are gathering evidence of an interplanetary crime and must question those inside."

Amy gulped. "We're coming."

She cracked open the doors to see what appeared to be at least 20 strange rhinoseros-looking creatures, suited up in full interplanetary law enforcement gear, staring back at her.

Oh, and guns. They had guns. Amy hoped she'd never see a gun — native to the Earth or otherwise — for the rest of her life.

"Hello," she squeaked.

She and Rory stepped outside the TARDIS. The Judoon remained still. Amy and Rory remained terrified.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, one Judoon stepped forward. It waved a strange instrument in front of her, and with a beep, the Judoon stepped away. "Human, female," said the Judoon, its voice gravelly and barely understandable.

It waved the instrument around Rory. "Human, male."

It's black eyes turned back to Amy's, unblinking. "Human female, where is the operator of this ship?"

"Um, he ... he's injured. He can't come out."

The Judoon squinted its beady eyes. "We must question the Time Lord. Interplanetary Code 535 of the Shadow Proclamation explicitly states that any evidence gathered at the scene of a crime must include questioning of all witnesses —"

"Yes, well, he's not in a questioning state right now," Rory put in.

"Incorrect. Interplanetary Code 535 of the Shadow Proclamation explicitly states that any evidence gathered at the scene of a crime must include questioning of all —"

"You can't," Amy interrrupted, throwing up her hands.

She immediately regretted that movement. The Judoon all started, and their weapons raised automatically. "Human female, please lower your limbs," stated the head Judoon.

She did, slowly. "I'm not armed," she tried to offer.

"The Time Lord must be questioned," the lead Judoon said.

Amy frowned. "Honestly, I would bring him out here if I could, but I can't. He got into a fight with a big nasty tornado and he is in no shape —"

"The Time Lord must be questioned," the Judoon said again, its beady eyes betraying no hint of emotion.

Amy was beginning to get annoyed. It was like she was dealing with Todd the Deputy all over again. Except there were 20 of Todd in this instance ... and he'd transformed into hulking rhinoseros-like aliens.

But the situations were similar.

"I told you, you can't talk to him," she snapped. "You lot don't catch on quick, do you?"

"Amy, must you?" Rory asked, quietly.

"Well, if they're going to be that daft, then yes, I must," she answered, not looking at her husband.

The head Judoon stalked forward. "The Time Lord must be questioned," he grabbed one of Amy's arms quite roughly.

"Oi!" she yelled. "Hands off!"

She tried to twist in the alien's grip, but it did no good. It's hands — or whatever they were — felt like steel. "Stop! You're hurting me!"

"Stop it!" Rory said, as he moved to get between Amy and the Judoon. "We'll cooperate, just don't —"

Amy heard what sounded like an electrical current traveling through the air, and Rory went down, gasping and shaking.

"You just electrocuted my husband!" she yelled.

"The human male has been subdued," stated the head Judoon, without removing its hand from her arm. "The humans will remain in custody until the Time Lord can be questioned."

Amy watched as Rory's spasms slowed, and then stopped completely, and she fought a serious urge to slap the damn rhinoseros holding her arm across the face. Rory moved his head around to peer up at her. His eyes were bugged and bloodshot, and his mouth gaped open as he fought for breath, his body still twitching with the remnants of the electrical current.

"That ... that sucked," he wheezed from his position on the ground.

Suddenly, the air shifted, and Amy looked up. In the chaos, she had lost track of the weather. The sky overhead had darkened to near blackness, and a strange green haze could be seen over the horizon.

Another tornado was brewing.

The Judoon noticed the change in barometric pressure as well, and their ears twitched in tandem as they looked around them, confused.

But Todd the Judoon wouldn't be deterred. "The Time Lord must be questioned."

"Yeah, well, if you don't get back in your little ship and get the hell out of here, there won't be enough of you left to question anybody," Amy snapped.

Rory made a sound of agreeance from the ground. Or he groaned. She couldn't be sure.

The Judoon didn't move.

And then the wind picked up, and the rain began to fall in sheets.

The Judoon didn't move still, but Amy sensed they were beginning to get a bit uncomfortable. The Judoon's hand on her arm had tightened, and Todd the Judoon's eyes flitted between her and the sky above. She guessed this particular fleet had never seen a twister before.

She was soaked, and Rory was struggling to pick himself off the now-muddied ground to avoid being dirtied even more.

The whistle of the wind became ear-piercing, and one gust nearly knocked Rory back to the ground.

The Judoon moved then.

"Retreat to the ship," said Todd the Judoon, as it let go of Amy. The other Judoon started to obey, but the tornado — a funnel that was so wide it nearly blotted out the sky completely — was on them in an instant.

Amy heard the engines of the TARDIS, and she screamed several obscenities at the ship as it began to disappear, no doubt to protect itself. "No! Nooooooo!" Apparently, whatever the Judoon had been doing to keep the TARDIS in place had been forgotten in the face of the twister.

The Judoon scattered, disorganized. Amy helped helped a shaky Rory from his kneeling position, and they both did the only thing they knew to do.

They ran.


	14. Chapter 14

_Hello, all. I think we're finally getting to wrapping up this adventure, and I want to tell you how grateful I am for everyone's patience. I know I said I wasn't branching out beyond Amy, Rory and the Doctor at the beginning of this story, but I think it's time to bring in a couple other characters. I hope you enjoy. Once again, I don't own Doctor Who. _

**CHAPTER 14**

Rory's ears were still ringing from the electrical shock, but over the sound of his eardrums begging for mercy was the sound of the massive twister that was rumbling over the horizon and through the field of wheat grass. The Judoon ship was right in its crosshairs, and Rory couldn't help but turn as he stumbled forward, propelled by Amy's own momentum as she half-dragged him across the gently sloping hills.

The tornado would make any creature — human or alien — weak in the knees. The roar was as deafening as a train engine, and it ate everything in its path. Rory and Amy continued to run as fast as their legs would carry them, but the Judoon ship stayed in place. Rory watched, his mouth agape, as the ship eventually disappeared into the sheets of rain, and he heard a crunching sound as the ship was no doubt lifted off the ground. He thought he saw a glint of otherworldly metal as the ship was sucked into the vortext.

The Judoon themselves weren't fast enough. Rory couldn't help but feel bad for the creatures. They were huge, and worked well as a police force, but their girth and their unweilding suits didn't lend them to being decent runners. He turned back around when he saw the first Judoon get sucked upwards, not wanting to see anything else.

He could hear them, though. Many of them let out strange, warped growls as they were overtaken, and each one sounded more surprised than the last. Rory kept running alongside his wife. There was nothing that could be done. They'd be at the mercy of the twister as well if they turned to help.

Rory squinted through the rain, trying to ignore the pelting hail that was mixed in with the moisture as it thumped him repeatedly on the head. If it had been a different day, he may have noticed that it hurt. But he'd just been electrocuted.

"Come on!" Amy screamed, as they tried to push forward even more. He had no idea how they were going to get out of this situation. The base of the twister was so massive that they couldn't cut in a different direction to escape its path. It was everywhere.

Rory wondered if he was going to die. It seemed entirely plausible.

The roar still assaulted his ears. They had to keep moving.

They followed the river a bit, until it curved, leading them into a more open field. A house stood on the horizon, and Rory could see small figures moving between the home and a low-placed door, no doubt going into a storm shelter that was dug into the hillside. Rory's heart flopped. Maybe they would survive this after all.

Rory knew Amy saw the same thing he did, because her long legs pumped even faster as she guided him toward the home. The two-story house was white, with black trimming and black shutters. The family had already disappeared into the storm shelter.

_No, wait_. There was one figure still standing outside, and he looked oddly out of place. As Amy and Rory approached, the tornado still hot on their tails, Rory could begin to make out a long, black trench coat, and a top hat. The man's face was set in a scowl, and grey hair stuck out from under the hat.

The man began yelling something, but Rory couldn't decipher it.

"What is he doing?" Amy asked beside him, panting.

Rory could only shake his head. The man had planted himself firmly between them and the storm shelter, their only hope of surviving.

The man yelled again, and Rory thought he could make out the words, but just barely.

"No ... room!" the man was yelling, still frowning.

But the man wasn't moving to save himself.

Something was off.

"We need in that storm shelter!" Rory answered, his breaths coming in hitches. He was very, very close to collapsing.

The man opened his mouth to yell again, but he was interrupted when a girl who looked around Amy and Rory's age, petite, with brown hair, suddenly rounded the corner from the home and was beside him.

"This way!" she yelled, all but ignoring the strange man. The man's frown deepened even further as Rory and Amy took heed and followed the girl, her farmer's jeans flapping in the strong winds as she ran ahead of them.

"Where ... are we ... going?" Amy asked as they ran.

Rory felt himself slowing. His legs were jelly, and his lungs screamed for air. They'd been sprinting for all they were worth for what felt like an eternity. His muscles were aching — and they were already a bit sensitive from the electrical current — and he had a side stitch that stabbed his abdomen every time he took another step.

It was torture.

Beside him, Amy pulled on his arm as she snuck a glance behind them. She didn't need to convey in words what she saw, because her green eyes widened, and he thought he saw a spark of pure fear in them. The roaring seemed to get louder.

The young girl's short legs were moving, but Amy and Rory — not petite by any means — caught up to her rather quickly.

"This way!" the girl yelled again. "There's another storm shelter on the property!"

Amy and Rory just kept running, unable to form words.

The roaring continued, and they kept running. The girl stayed right up with them, and she pointed a hand to the northeast of their direction. "Just over this hill!"

As they crested the knoll, Rory began to see a small home, cozy and huddled on the edge of a brush line, awaiting them. Beside it was a door leading into a hill. The storm shelter.

But then, the girl tripped.

Rory automatically stopped, turning to help her.

The girl screamed at him to keep going. "I'll be fine!"

He looked up. The tornado was nearly upon them.

She was already scrambling to her feet as Rory and Amy turned back. The house was so close, and the storm shelter beckoned to them.

"Rory, hurry!" Amy yelled as they moved forward. His legs had gone from jelly, to cement, and he stumbled into the door of the celler, unable to get his legs to work any more. Beside him, Amy slammed into the door, and with a push, they fell inside, into total darkness.

The door was sucked back by the force of the winds, and Rory couldn't help but yell with surprise as it slammed shut with such a force his teeth rattled.

"No! What about that girl?" Amy's voice was panicked in the pitch blackness, and Rory surged forward again and grabbed for the handle of the door. The suction was immense.

"I can't get it!" He yelled, his voice cracking under the emotional strain. He pulled on the heavy door with everything he had still left in him — he pulled so hard he worried, for half a second, that his arm muscles would snap from the force. He pulled and pulled.

The door didn't budge.

"Please!" He yelled, nearly hysterical.

He feverishly clawed at the door, the thing that was between them and the tornado — and the kind girl who had helped them.

He couldn't hear anything but the roar. He strained to hear her screams, but there was nothing but the twister. It was everywhere. It was so close. He could hear Amy behind him, crying. He knew she wasn't crying because she was afraid. She was crying because the young girl was no doubt lost — gone because she'd done a good deed and helped two strangers.

At that moment, all of the events of the last day or so began to crush Rory. His mind began to shut down as the adrenaline suddenly drained from his body. With the tornado roaring around them — was it fading a bit? — Rory sagged against the door to the storm cellar, unable to find the strength to stay upright. He couldn't do it anymore. He hadn't eaten or slept in what seemed like forever, and the girl's fate ate at him so harshly that he couldn't help but gasp at the pain it caused. Her death gnawed viciously at his weary heart.

"Amy —" he tried to say, as he attempted another pull on the door. But his tongue felt too thick in his mouth. His hands were clumsy, and didn't respond to his request. He missed the handle, and he tried to catch himself as he slid down the wooden door.

He collapsed the rest of the way to the earthen floor, and blackness surrounded him.


End file.
